jail-birds

Even when he consorted with jail-birds in jungle camps, and listened to their codes of conduct and measurements of life, he was not affected.

CHAPTER V 2010

We jail-birds stick together, and he was obviously a man of power and influence - why, he was probably on dining-out terms with half the badmashes* (* Ruffians.) and cattle-thieves between here and Jallalabad, and if necessary he'd give me an escort; we could travel as horse-copers, or something, for with my Persian and Pushtu I'd have no difficulty passing as an Afghan.

The Sky Writer Geoff Barbanell 2010

“And if you do not expect the gallows, to which you are condemned (for the fourth time to my knowledge), may I beg the favour to know,” said the magistrate, “what it is you do expect, in consideration of your not having taken your flight with the rest of the jail-birds, which I will admit was a line of conduct little to have been expected?”

The Heart of Mid-Lothian 2007

So as soon as the prison-yard is open to the prisoners, they gather round this stone table, which displays such dainties as jail-birds desire — brandy, rum, and the like.

Scenes from a Courtesan's Life 2007

Now authorities are looking for these two men, these two former jail-birds who are on the run.

CNN Transcript Dec 17, 2007 2007

He forgot that in less that 50 years Columbus and his henchmen, a whole generation of cutthroats, mercenaries, jail-birds, pirates and murderers all but wiped out millions of the indigenous populations though disease, enslavement, mass murders and senseless slaughters.

The Pope's Senior Moment 2007

But the most part are of a different order — skulking jail-birds; unkempt, bare-foot children; big-mouthed, robust women, in a sort of uniform of striped flannel petticoat and short tartan shawl; among these, a few surpervising constables and a dismal sprinkling of mutineers and broken men from higher ranks in society, with some mark of better days upon them, like a brand.

Edinburgh Picturesque Notes 2005

Once he stumped his toe, and, I am sorry to say, swore roundly about it, just as he would have done in the new Arcadia, if one of the jail-birds comprising that colony had been ungrateful for his advantages.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 08, No. 50, December, 1861 Various

Surely these new jail-birds had something which they, the old ones, did not possess.

"Say Fellows—" Fifty Practical Talks with Boys on Life's Big Issues Wade C. Smith

Boys were in that flock of jail-birds too -- youths barely in their teens, guilty of such heinous offences as throwing stones at people who passed in boats upon the river, or of "playing during divine service on Sunday" and remaining impenitent and obdurate when confronted with all the "terrific apparatus of fetters, chains and dark cells" pertaining to a well-equipped city jail.

The Press-Gang Afloat and Ashore