People are solely simply realising what ‘nonce’ stands for – it began as code phrase
The term ‘nonce’ is frequently used as a derogatory term for convicted paedophiles and sex offenders but an ex-prisoner has revealed its supposed origins.
It’s standard practice in many prisons to segregate sex offenders from the general prison population to prevent them from being targeted due to their crimes.
A 2022 Channel 5 documentary, HMP Wakefield: Evil Behind Bars, focuses on the Yorkshire institution and highlights the high number of sex offenders housed there.
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The infamous ‘Monster Mansion’ houses notorious names such as Roy Whiting who was found guilty of kidnapping and murdering 8-year-old Sarah Payne in 2000 and Robert Maudsley, who has been incarcerated for over three decades.
(Image: In Pictures via Getty Images)
In addition to providing insights into life inside, the documentary gives viewers an understanding of the labels assigned to offenders during their incarceration, as we previously reported.
Mark, an ex-inmate, started by explaining that HMP Wakefield is known for housing prisoners who would typically be kept in solitary confinement in other prisons.
“What prisoners refer to as ‘nonces’, or sex offenders, or people in prison for serious crimes against women and children,” he added.
Noel ‘Razor’ Smith, who served time at HMP Whitemoor in Cambridgeshire, suggested that HMP Wakefield had been so packed with prisoners involved in sex crimes that a new term had been coined.
“Wakefield is where the word ‘nonce’ for sex offender actually originated,” he claimed.
(Image: Yorkshire Live WS)
Noel explained that this term had been developed because of the risk to sex offenders of being attacked when prisoners were let out of their cells.
He continued: “They had a slate board outside the cell with your name and number, and they would put the letters, ‘N.O.N.C.E’ on it, which actually meant ‘not on normal courtyard exercise’.”
“So when the staff came round to unlock everybody for exercise and let them out, when they saw nonce on the door they would leave them locked up because they knew if they let them out, the other prisoners would attack them.
“So it became the universal word for sex offenders, certainly in Britain, it became ‘nonce’.”
Despite using the term to label prisoners as vulnerable, the northern institution remained unusual for allowing all inmates to mix unsegregated.
“One of the more extraordinary elements of Wakefield is that sex offenders are allowed to mix on the wings with other offenders,” author Geoffrey Wansell observed.
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