INMATES AT EASTERN CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION (ECI) TEND TO ASSUME A SINGLE CHARACTER ROLE WITH RESPECT TO THE ENTIRE PRISONER POPULATION. FIRST, THERE ARE 'STAND-UP GUYS,' WHO ARE CHARACTERISTICALLY MENTALLY STRONG AND PHYSICALLY TOUGH, LOYAL, NONABUSIVE, NONEXPLOITIVE, AND ALOOF. OF THE 145 WHITE INMATES AT ECI, NO MORE THAN 15 ARE RECOGNIZED AS STAND-UP GUYS. THEN THERE IS THE 'MAFIA.' AT ECI, THIS IS A COHESIVE FIVE-MEMBER GROUP OF INMATES WITH ORGANIZED CRIME CONNECTIONS. THESE MEN ARE ALSO ALOOF, BUT THEY TEND TO BE LESS OBSTRUSIVE, ALTHOUGH THEIR POWER GOES UNCHALLENGED. THEY OFTEN INTERCEDE ON BEHALF OF BOTH THE STAFF AND THE INMATES IN CRITICAL SITUATIONS. THE WISE GUYS ARE LOYAL AND TOUGH; THEIR HOSTILITY TOWARDS THE STAFF IS OPEN AND INTENSE, THEY OPENLY ESPOUSE THE VIRTUE AND NECESSITY OF INMATE UNITY, AND THEY ARE LIKELY TO BE IN THE FOREFRONT OF ANY DISTURBANCE. NEXT COMES THE POLITICIANS, A GROUP OF 15 ELECTED INMATE LEADERS WHO REPRESENT THE INMATES AT LARGE TO OUTSIDE ORGANIZATIONS AND TO THE WARDEN AND THE STAFF. THE 14 'ADMINISTRATION MEN,' WHO CLEARLY IDENTIFY WITH THE VALUES OF LEGITIMATE SOCIETY, SEE THEMSELVES AS CONVENTIONAL PEOPLE FORCED TO LIVE AMONG CRIMINAL TYPES. ANOTHER GROUP OF WHITE PRISONERS WHOSE NORMATIVE ORIENTATIONS LIE BEYOND THE PRISON ARE SOME EIGHT INMATES IDENTIFIED AS HIPPIES. LIKE THE ADMINISTRATION MEN, THEY DO NOT DEFINE THEMSELVES AS CRIMINALS, BUT RATHER AS POLITICAL PRISONERS. THEN THERE ARE THE HOMOSEXUAL SUBGROUPS -- 'FAGS,' 'PUNKS', AND 'KIDS'. FAGS ARE THOSE FEW INMATES WHO LIVED AS HOMOSEXUALS IN THE FREE WORLD AND CONTINUE THE PRACTICE IN THE INSTITUTION. OF THE 145 INMATES ONLY 3 WERE IDENTIFIED AS FAGS, AND ALL 3 WERE INVOLVED IN PSEUDO-MARRIAGES. A PUNK IS A YOUNG INMATE WHO ADOPTS THE PASSIVE ROLE IN A HOMOSEXUAL RELATIONSHIP AS A RESULT OF THREAT OR FORCE. ON THE AVERAGE, PUNKS ARE YOUNG, SERVING SHORT SENTENCES, AND ARE ON THEIR FIRST SENTENCE. KIDS ARE FORMER PUNKS WHO PERFORM FOR STAND-UP GUYS IN EXCHANGE FOR PROTECTIONS AND OTHER FAVORS. THE NEXT GROUP -- 'DOPE FIENDS' -- ARE INMATES WHO WERE ADDICTS PRIOR TO THEIR INCARCERATION AND FOR WHOM SCORING DRUGS AND GETTING HIGH REMAIN THEIR CONSUMMATE INTEREST WHILE IN PRISON. LASTLY, THERE ARE THE 'RATS.' A RAT IS AN INMATE WHO COMMUNICATES INFORMATION CONCERNING INMATE ACTIVITIES TO THE CUSTODIANS. AMONG THE WHITE INMATE POPULATION, HOWEVER, THERE IS NO CLEARLY DEFINED CLASS OF INMATES TERMED AS RATS. FROM THE STANDPOINT OF ANY PARTICULAR INMATE, NEARLY ALL OTHERS ARE RATS OR POTENTIAL RATS. (KBL)