A prisoner-functionary ("Funktionshäftling"), or "kapo" (boss), wore a cloth brassard (their "Kennzeichen", or identifying mark) to indicate their status. They served as camp guards ("Lagerpolizei"), barracks clerks ("Blockschreiber") and the senior prisoners ("ältesten", meaning elders) at the camp ("lagerältester"), barracks ("blockältester") and room ("stubenältester") levels of camp organization. They received privileges like bigger and sometimes better food rations, better quarters (or even a private room), luxuries (like tobacco or alcohol) and access to the camp's facilities (like the showers or the pool). Failure to please their captors meant demotion and loss of privileges and an almost certain death at the hands of their fellow inmates.