gen pop

[ jen pop ]

noun

, Slang.

1. the general population of inmates in a prison, or the cell blocks in which the majority of inmates reside: Administrators sometimes remove child molesters from gen pop and send them to solitary for their own safety. Compare solitary confinement.

   Gen pop has time to exercise in the yard four days a week.

   Administrators sometimes remove child molesters from gen pop and send them to solitary for their own safety.

2. the general population, especially when considered as the default, as opposed to a distinguishable or designated subgroup: An MMO that just drops players into gen pop without a tutorial level shows terrible game design.

   I had a rough transition to the gen pop after my retirement from active duty.

   An MMO that just drops players into gen pop without a tutorial level shows terrible game design.

Word History and Origins

Origin of gen pop¹

First recorded in 2005–10; shortening of general population

Example Sentences

“After it’s fixed, they made me lay there and they put me in what I call ‘gen pop,’” Sickler recounts.

From Los Angeles Times

But Madison – or Badison, as she has nicknamed herself – has really got under the skin of Litchfield’s gen pop, and the viewers.

From The Guardian

They’ve created an array of intra-governmental venture capital and IT firms; transformed essential bureaucratic offices into for-profit revenue centers; converted our storied space program into something akin to a galactic Uber; established charitable trusts, allowing wealthy individuals and powerful corporations to finance and effectively direct state programs and initiatives; and created VIP prisons, posh accommodations for those able and willing to pay a hefty price to buy their way out of gen pop.

From The Guardian

Maxx and Marshall’s ordering their employees to chuck her wares into the gen pop racks?

From Salon

It is very hard to see how anyone in the gen pop even cares about this stuff...

From New York Times