"Ducking" is a prison slang term for a technique through which prisoners modify the behavior of correctional officers and other

prison A prison, also known as a jail, gaol (dated, standard English, Australian, and historically in Canada), penitentiary (American English and Canadian English), detention center (or detention centre outside the US), correction center, corre ...

staff members using manipulation and coercion. The prison slang term for a prison staff member that has been manipulated is a "duck". Ducking occurs when a prisoner becomes friendly with a prison staff member and then persuades the employee to break prison rules and laws. The prisoner then provokes the staff member (or members) into breaking an increasing number of prison guidelines until the staff member can be effectively blackmailed by the prisoner. At such point, the "duck" in prison parlance is said to be "downed". Ducking is perceived to be a threat to hierarchal stability in prisons. For this reason, volunteers at San Quentin State Prison are given an anonymously authored eight-page pamphlet describing ducking techniques entitled "Downing a Duck (An Inmate's Version)" during training in addition to the standard volunteer handbook. It is thought that Joyce Mitchell and Gene Palmer, employees of the

Clinton Correctional Facility Clinton Correctional Facility is a New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision maximum security state prison for men located in the Village of Dannemora, New York. The prison is sometimes colloquially referred to as Dannem ...

in Dannemora, New York, were perhaps ducked by

Richard Matt Richard is a male given name. It originates, via Old French, from Old Frankish and is a compound of the words descending from Proto-Germanic ''*rīk-'' 'ruler, leader, king' and ''*hardu-'' 'strong, brave, hardy', and it therefore means 'stron ...

and

David Sweat David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

in the

2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape The 2015 Clinton Correctional Facility escape was a jailbreak that took place on June 6, 2015, when two inmates, Richard Matt and David Sweat, were discovered missing during a 5:17 a.m. bed check at the maximum security Clinton Correctiona ...

. The concept of ducking is also discussed in the 2015 film '' Heartlock''.

References

Prison-related crime {{Prison-stub