Games Prisoners PlayBy Marek M. Kaminski

Ilustrations by Mirek Andrzejewski

GPP Background, page 1

MY CELLSNr Date Destination Mean Met

AreaNights

1 2 3

4 5 6

7 8 910111213

3/123/133/15

3/153/183/25

4/155/95/166/36/176/247/268/9

Wilcza police stationCyryl and Metody police stationCourt sorting cellBiaoleka JailTemporary sorting cellHealth emergency cellRegular cellRakowiecka JailInternal medicine cellRegular cellSurgery cell 1Surgery cell 2Surgery emergency cellSurgery cell 3Regular large cell (barn)Release Total

667

419

686637

45

566

308

988736

50

119

15 12 20

14.5 1014.5

20 9 20 20 12 20 50

1 2 - 31 3 7 21115 24 7 18 14 7 32 14

149

Notes: Nr = consecutive cell number; most dates are approximate (1-2 days), year = 1985; Mean = estimated average number of inmates per cell (including the author); Met = estimated total number of inmates met in the cell; Area = estimated cell area, in m2; Nights = number of nights spent in the cell. Total number of inmates met in cells: about 119. Corridormen and inmates met in transport, walkspaces, or other places outside cells: about 70.

GPP Background, page 2

SOURCES OF DATA

• Living through various inmate roles;

• Informal evening tea-chats;

• Secret training of “grypsmen” candidates;

• Informal face-to-face conversations with inmates;

• Prison artifacts: pictures, songs, letters, etc.

GPP Background, page 3

DATA RECORDING

• Scraps of papers (in Polish and English)

Meetings with family

Smuggled “grypses”

Guard

• Official letters

• Solzhenitsyn’s technique: memorizing

• Intensity of experience

GPP Background, page 4

PRISON HYPERCALCULATION

• Length of sentence• Avoiding rape or beating• Saving life• Quality of life

PAYOFFS:

YOU QUICKLY LEARN HOW TO PLAY

GPP Background, page 5

Optimization subject to constraints

• Material constraintsPrisons and jailsSpaceGoods and food

• Administrative controlPersonnelTime

• Subculture

SCARCITY

WEAK

STRONG

GPP Background, page 6

TYPICAL PRISON (SIEDLCE)

convicts(prison)

150 m

130m

bakery

hospital

walkingareas

jail & prisonmanufacturing fab

school

familymeetings

GPP Background, page 7

Typical small cellSize: app. 3x4.5m 8-9 guys

gate

table (in-cell meals)

window(s)

double-decker bunks

toilet curtain

jaruzel (toilet bowl)

GeneralWojciechJaruzelski

GPP Background, page 8

Same cell projected onto walls

hay, materek drillerDavid Bowie’s This is not America

A piece of blue sky is all I need

How good it feels to get up at dawn

GPP Background, page 9

Layers of a prison window

INSIDE

OUTSIDE

NET

WINDOW

TIGERBARS

TRANSLUCENT GLASS

NET

GPP Background, page 10

TIME: A day in Polish prison

6:00 am: Wake-up bell. Light is turned on briefly. The driller starts drilling, and pauses for a few hours around noon. Inmates get back their clothes.

6:20 am: Morning muster. Inmates form a row and a cell leader reports to the guard any extraordinary events that took place since the previous evening’s muster. Inmates use the toilet, wash, and make beds according to local regulations.

Between 7:00 and 8:00 am: Breakfast. Inmates servicing cells, called corridormen, bring the Titanic–the food cart–with coffee, margarine, jam or cheap cheese. Inmates form a line and get their portions through the open gate or a feeder, a small valve in the gate.

GPP Background, page 11

Between breakfast and dinner: Walk, lasting 20-25 minutes per group. Inmates walk in groups of ten to forty around one of the walkplaces, a 50-100 m2 square yard. Sitting is prohibited. Smooth movement in pairs must be sustained.

Between 12:00 and 2:00 pm: Dinner. After dinner, inmates get medications, bread for supper and next day’s breakfast and, possibly, a communist newspaper “The People’s Tribune.”

Between 4:00 and 6:00 pm: Supper. Light is turned on again for a couple of hours until 8:30.

Between 6:00 and 6:30: Evening muster and folding the cubes. Sitting on or lying in beds is permitted.

9:00 pm: Go-to-bed bell. The driller is turned off.

Periodical events: shower, shaving, family meeting, interrogation, trial

GPP Background, page 12

SUBCULTURE: Major casts

Secret argot and norms: Insult: comparing g. to a woman, fag, squealer, or CommunistPenis of other man UNTOUCHABLEHonor, solidarity, non-cooperation, hygiene, help

Actual/potential informersGrypsman can steal from themNo hand-shake, no common table

Life around jaruzelFeminine name, clothes, dancingPassive role in sexual intercourse

70-80%

20+%

1-2%

GPP Background, page 13