A joke about a guy's first day in prison, from the first joke book I ever owned.

Jim arrives at the prison where he has to serve out his 10 year sentence. After the formalities involved in processing, he was shown to his cell, which he had to share with another inmate. Overwhelmed by the thought of spending the next ten years in this miserable place, he spends most of the day in bed staring at the ceiling.

At 10 PM, the guards conducted roll-call, locked all the cells, and turned off the lights. Jim tried to sleep, but couldn't.

Around midnight, he was snapped our of his thoughts when someone in the cellblock yelled "TWELVE!". Then, there was the sound of laughter reverberating around the building. He looked over to his cellmate who was laughing as well. Jim was surprised, but didn't make much of it.

A little later, there was a shout of "TWENTY NINE!"! Again, the inmates in the block started to hoot in delight. Jim was intrigued and asked his cellmate, who was doubled over laughing, just what the heck was going on with the numbers.

"Well...", said Jim's cellmate, "...those numbers aren't random, man. The people in this block have been in here a long time, so long in fact, that we all know each other's jokes by heart. We numbered them so that they're easier to tell! You can shout out a number, and every inmate in this building will know what joke you're talking about!"

"You're pulling my leg!", said Jim. The cellmate chuckles and says, "No, I'm not, man! Look, I'll show you. Give me a number."

Jim shrugs, "Fine... How about 85?". The cellmate goes to the bars of the cell and yells out "EIGHTY FIVE!". The whole block starts to howl out laughing. The cellmate looks at Jim and smirks.

Jim is astonished. "Can I try?", he asks. The cellmate beckons him to have at it.

Jim gets off his bed and goes over to the bars of the cell. "FIFTY THREE!", he yells.

No laughs, only silence. The cellmate says, "Try again."

"SIX!", Jim yells. Still no response. "What happened? Did I choose the wrong jokes?"

Jim's cellmate sighs, pats him on the back and says, "It's not the jokes, buddy, you're just not telling them right."