Vocabulary
(I):
| state penal system devise to be closed to public scrutiny arduous undercover corrections officer (C. O.) New York notorious Sing Sing prison account unprecedented unbiased eyewitness report illuminating insider's view harsh lives the guards, the guarded exist Westchester County New York City banks Hudson River handful Alexis de Toqueville first stop Democracy in America electric chair to be installed turn of the century to execute Rosenbergs Hollywood to film gangster Jimmy (James) Cagney George Raft |
Manhattan going up the river criminals exposure Ethel and Julius Rosenberg to accuse to convict slang rookie guard inmates academy walk down the hall official term distinction to insult documentaries stereotyped cruel brute to keep s.o. down The Green Mile reality to be attracted to freight trains railroad hobos Seattle Rolling Nowhere Mexican migrants illegal modern-day incarnation coyotes high life Aspen, Colorado whiteout secretive to be up to blond |
Buenos
Dias originally headquarters Department of Corrections Albany permission follow a recruit check the hypothesis tough guys farm boys high school employer to plant a little seed bug journalist immigration homelessness incarceration prison boom tripled quadrupled by a factor of to shrink it down to incredibly to be caught with a quantity of drugs violent crime sentences of to fill the prisons fear for your safety on a given day to be likely to be to be punched over the course of immune calm officers tangle |
| when your
number's up = when it's your turn to repress over time to take a toll yard in sight to commit murder attack pub courteous treat with respect deserve to be convicted of rob burglarized to return the favor to make up nicknames to share to be far enough Forrest (Gump) |
Boy George Ferris Buehler Robocop Christopher Walken Gaunt actor Barney Fife Ineffectual poor thing respond to get bent out of shape Mayberry (The Andy Griffith Show) to lose one's temper to be confined infractions of the rules sergeant rude to repeat cracker sticks racial ignore to have our time to do |
to keep
it up Homer to push your buttons to succeed whole row to catch mirror to spit wound interactions negative at the end of the day to get a chip on your shoulder minority to go wrong to take out one's aggressions on absolutely candidly typically to bring out that side of you decently to bug one |
Alexis de Toqueville
http://www.tocqueville.org/
Jimmy (James) Cagney
http://www.themave.com/Cagney/
George Raft
http://www.hollywood.com/celebs/detail/celeb/192599
Ethel and Julius Rosenberg
http://www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/rosenb/ROSENB.HTMspy
Listening
Comprehension Questions (I):
1. How did author Ted Conover do the research for his book Newjack:
Guarding Sing Sing?
2. Where is Sing Sing prison?
3. Give two reasons why Sing Sing is more famous than many other prisons in
the U.S.
4. Who was Alexis de Toqueville?
5. About when was the electric chair installed at Sing Sing?
6. About how many people died in the electric chair at Sing Sing?
7. What did Sing Sing's most famous inmates do to end up in jail?
8. What kind of word is 'newjack' and what does it mean?
9. What are the guards called after the inmates know and respect them more?
10. What is inaccurate about the knowledge we get about prison guards from TV
and movies?
11. What did the author wonder about prison guards who acted with cruelty?
12. Give two examples of other groups of people Ted Conover has studied and
written books about.
13. What kind of people tend to end up as prison guards in places like Sing
Sing?
14. Prisons are the second-biggest what in New York state?
15. What is one important reason for the huge increase in the number of prison
inmates in the United States?
16. Why was Conover 'scared every single day' he worked at Sing Sing?
17. Why did Conover say his experience was 'worth it'?
18. Conover says people are not 'forced' to work as a prison guard;
but give some of the reasons some people feel they do not have much
other choice besides working as a prison guard.
19. What was Conover's starting pay as a prison guard?
20. What does Conover say people try to 'hide' when working as a prison guard?
21. How must prison guards talk with the inmates?
22. How do you think Conover felt about some of the nicknames the inmates gave
him? Why?
23. What do inmates sometimes try to do to the guards with words?
24. What happens if a guard gives into this kind of behavior?
25. Conover describes a time when a prison inmate acted aggressively toward
him. How did Conover start to feel afterwards?