behind the wire

English

Etymology

A reference to the chain-link fence that surrounds a prison camp.

Phrase

behind the wire

1. (slang) In a prison camp or refugee camp.
   • 2000, Patrick Wilson, The War Behind the Wire, page 9:

     Some were to find themselves behind the wire for virtually the entire war.

   • 2010, Michael Caulfield, War Behind the Wire: Australian Prisoners of War:

     The Archive has over two hundred of them — men, women and children who spent years behind the wire and yet lived to tell us their stories . . . and the stories of those people they do not want forgotten.

   • 2011, Cheryl Benard, Cathryn Quantic Thurston, Andrés Villamizar, The Battle Behind the Wire: U.S. Prisoner and Detainee Operations from World War II to Iraq:

     Nevertheless, even camps near "perfection," as the Red Cross described them, could not prevent battles from erupting behind the wire.

   • 2011, Steve Eubanks, Golf Freek, page 236:

     Once we were back in the van and on our way "behind the wire" we were subjected to two more searches, one outside the first gate of the camp, and one behind the first and second gates.

2. (by extension, slang) In prison.
   • 1959, Locomotive Engineers Journal - Volume 93, page 5:

     Hutton, as engineer of the train which brought the mob, was one of the first ones detained and he remained behind the wire for several days until he could prove that he had acted as he did only because of the gun at his head.

   • 2003, Michael Arpaia, Angolite - Volume 28, page 2:

     Remain strong until the walls come crashing down. You're in my thoughts, and the fine work each of you do. Later, brothers behind the wire.

   • 2004, Greg Newbold, “Review: Behind Bars: Surviving Prison”, in Journal of Prisoners on Prisons:

     Section Three takes readers behind the wire and tells them what to expect if they ever get sentenced to time.

   • 2015, L McAtackney, “Materialising Power Struggles of Political Imprisonment at Long Kesh/Maze Prison, Northern Ireland”, in M Leone, J Knauf, editors, Historical Archaeologies of Capitalism:

     This brief consideration of the material culture of imprisonment at Long Kesh/Maze has wider significance in revealing how power relations behind the wire can be very different from the public pronouncement of power inherent in traditional prison architecture