Well one way in which they would make sense of the task is to draw on shared understandings in the culture about what prisoners are like and what guards are like.

嗯，他们能够明白这项工作的一种方式就是：囚犯该是什么样的，警卫又是该什么样的，这一点要在文化上达成共识。

youdao

Due to the fact that they did not read English, the prisoners were unaware of what they were signing.

这些囚犯由于看不懂英语，不知道自己在签什么。

《牛津词典》

The quartermaster was responsible for dividing the loot evenly between crewmembers, watching over prisoners until the crew could decide what to do with them, and to punish pirates who broke rules.

舵手负责船员之间的战利品分配、在处置俘虏之前看守他们，并惩罚那些不守规矩的海盗。

youdao

And using statistical techniques to approximate what prisoners would say if they were surveyed is highly controversial.

WSJ: Why Surveys Should Listen More to Prisoners

What prisoners try to convey to the free is how the presence of time as something being done to you, instead of something you do things with, alters the mind at every moment.

NEWYORKER: The Caging of America

What, did the Republican prisoners ever get the chance to talk about what they'd done with, with Loyalist prisoners?

BBC: Northern Ireland