5 ms·

I've heard stories about people improvising "hooch" by letting apple or orange juice sit around and ferment and using that as a trade item for the other usual s

I've heard stories about people improvising "hooch" by letting apple or orange juice sit around and ferment and using that as a trade item for the other usual stuff. When I got stuck in a similar minimum security facility (no cells, just half-walls between groups of 4 beds so there was lots of socializing going on), people would trade their prescribed Seroquels and other such meds similarly. I also found out about "making spread" and was amazed at the ingenuity of some folks and what they could do with ramen, water, some crumbled up cheetos and a pound cake. And how this was used in the internal economy. Fascinating stuff. On the negative side, most of the people were in there for petty drug offenses, e.g. victimless crimes not involving violence which upset me greatly. Such a shame since most of these guys were obviously above-average IQ and otherwise nice, sometimes charismatic people. What a waste of tax dollars and lives. So many stories just from my short stay there.

lbotos 7y ago
Your post reminded me of the poem pruno which has always stuck with me: https://pen.org/recipe-for-prison-pruno/ https://pen.org/recipe-for-prison-pruno/
rwmurrayVT 7y ago
That was not very popular at Morgantown. You could just buy actual alcohol from the street. It was usually 10 or 20 dollars for a peanut butter jar full of vodka, normally Grey Goose. It sounds "racial", but a lot of things were based on stereotypical vices. We had Newports and Grey Goose. You could request something specific, but then you'd be paying the 4x premium. You could usually get a better deal because they'd be bringing in entire cartons of Newports, etc. There was one night nurse who didn't watch you take your pills so tightly. Most people who had the prescription didn't share it. There is a lot of creative food. I don't know if I'd eat the cheesecake on the street, but it is good when you haven't had anything for a while. We'd occasionally get street food inside, but it was like McDonald's breakfast, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, or chicken wings. There was not a lot of petty criminals at Morgantown. Simple possession rarely lands you in federal prison. The worst of the worst is conspiracy. It doesn't take much for you to be linked to a conspiracy. The mandatory minimums don't make sense for that kind of crime. There's a lot of marijuana + money laundering. I'd say around 15% of people really had no business having anywhere near their actual sentence length.
Fjolsvith 7y ago
> I've heard stories about people improvising "hooch" by letting apple or orange juice sit around and ferment and using that as a trade item for the other usual stuff. In one federal medium I was at, the guys from maintenance had broken through the wall behind a urinal and installed a still in the wall. They used a hot plate from a coffee maker. They covered it up by replacing the tiles and "caulking" between them with the institution issued tooth paste. I used those urinals for months without ever knowing about it. It was dismantled after the unit orderly snitched about it. That guy was murdered the next week. It turned out he had also snitched on some co-defendants for a reduced sentence. I heard the hooch from that still was stronger than whiskey and pretty nasty tasting. Most guys just tried to make alcohol with some bread and oranges in a trash bag stuffed in a locker or under a bunk.

lbotos 7y ago

Your post reminded me of the poem pruno which has always stuck with me: https://pen.org/recipe-for-prison-pruno/ https://pen.org/recipe-for-prison-pruno/

rwmurrayVT 7y ago

That was not very popular at Morgantown. You could just buy actual alcohol from the street. It was usually 10 or 20 dollars for a peanut butter jar full of vodka, normally Grey Goose. It sounds "racial", but a lot of things were based on stereotypical vices. We had Newports and Grey Goose. You could request something specific, but then you'd be paying the 4x premium. You could usually get a better deal because they'd be bringing in entire cartons of Newports, etc. There was one night nurse who didn't watch you take your pills so tightly. Most people who had the prescription didn't share it. There is a lot of creative food. I don't know if I'd eat the cheesecake on the street, but it is good when you haven't had anything for a while. We'd occasionally get street food inside, but it was like McDonald's breakfast, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut, or chicken wings. There was not a lot of petty criminals at Morgantown. Simple possession rarely lands you in federal prison. The worst of the worst is conspiracy. It doesn't take much for you to be linked to a conspiracy. The mandatory minimums don't make sense for that kind of crime. There's a lot of marijuana + money laundering. I'd say around 15% of people really had no business having anywhere near their actual sentence length.

Fjolsvith 7y ago

> I've heard stories about people improvising "hooch" by letting apple or orange juice sit around and ferment and using that as a trade item for the other usual stuff. In one federal medium I was at, the guys from maintenance had broken through the wall behind a urinal and installed a still in the wall. They used a hot plate from a coffee maker. They covered it up by replacing the tiles and "caulking" between them with the institution issued tooth paste. I used those urinals for months without ever knowing about it. It was dismantled after the unit orderly snitched about it. That guy was murdered the next week. It turned out he had also snitched on some co-defendants for a reduced sentence. I heard the hooch from that still was stronger than whiskey and pretty nasty tasting. Most guys just tried to make alcohol with some bread and oranges in a trash bag stuffed in a locker or under a bunk.