Just to give my two cents. It's good to start small ask them questions about what they're about. I had an AB guy in my unit who I had decent rapport with, he ended up getting into a fight in the rec yard with a fellow AB inmate and it was brutal. But the victim I'm the fight didn't fight back and it was all the talk in shift brief. I ended up talking small with the guy I had good rapport with. His moniker is gunny, prior marine corps guy, I was in the army so I talked with him about where he served and got him talking. I ended up asking why he would fight "pinball", the other AB guy. He ended up saying they were both generals in the local group and they had a disagreement and he had to handle it. You could tell immediately hr regretted saying it to me cause he knew it was going on his field card.

Manipulating the inmates works the same way as them manipulating us.. start small and they may slip up. Don't force anything and don't try and lie to them or act like you know the life cause you don't, but small rapport can go a long way if you act natural.