By George Graham, The Prison Mirror
There is an element among the inmates in prison that needs to be changed. It’s called disrespecting others through snooping, rubbernecking, invasion of privacy, or to put it in lames — PEEPERS.
Peepers are those who slyly or not so slyly peep into the cells of others, trying to see what property is lying around, or what kind of photos and art are on the wall, or what channel is tuned in on the TV set.
The number of inmates who have turned into covert peepers seems to be growing with each passing month. The purpose of this article is to describe the behavior and get a better understanding of what motivates an inmate to act in this deviant manner. With luck, maybe one of the guilty party will see the error of his ways.
There are several different types of peepers, some more popular (in their minds) than others.
The Deep Thought Peeper: He’s the one that will walk by a cell with his head hanging down as though he is looking at the floor. Maybe he’s pretending to be in deep thought or perhaps deep depression. But wait! Notice that while his head is pointed down, his eyes are slyly looking sideways, peering into your cell. This is probably the most sophisticated style of peeping and takes much practice to achieve perfection.
The I’m-Trying-To-Quit Peeper: This is the one where the peeper almost gets past your cell door and, at the last second, snaps his head to the side to get a brief but well trained look at the cell’s interior. This kind of peeper requires several passes throughout the day to memorize a complete inventory of the cell.
The Blatantly Obvious Peeper: These guys couldn’t care less if they are observed peering into a cell. They are probably admired by less aggressive peepers because they seemingly have no shame whatsoever. Perhaps that’s what the judge meant when they were found guilty due to lack of remorse.
While these are the common styles of peeping, there may be more. For those that notice the peepers, take precautions to keep property at least an arm’s length away from the front of the cell to prevent the grab-and-run theft. This includes leaving things sitting on your bed because the peeper will just tug at the blanket to pull whatever is on it to his pilfering hands.
Be sure that artwork and photos are securely taped to the gray display area on your cell wall.
To prevent the peepers from successfully peering in to see what’s in your cell when the switch-in/out (and you’re in the cell), stand at the front or sit at your desk and aimlessly stare towards those who walk by. Others like to sit and stare at their TV set which has a sign taped on the front that states, “What RU looking at?” That shakes up the peeper because they got sucked into a trap.
PEEPERS — what you are doing is an invasion of privacy of others, and they don’t have much. The DOC hires people to look into the cells, and you’re not on the payroll.
