5 ms·

In the Feds, stamps are the unit of money. On our yard a book of 'compound' stamps was worth $8 of 'value' but it took a lot of work to keep them at that price.

In the Feds, stamps are the unit of money. On our yard a book of 'compound' stamps was worth $8 of 'value' but it took a lot of work to keep them at that price. For a book you could get one dip of chew. I think is was two books for a 'square' of spice, a tiny sliver of paper enough to get you high. You would also need to include the price of an AA battery to use as your lighter to get high. Don't do drugs, but especially don't do spice, I saw it make guys crazy and guys just dropped dead from it. A jalepeno pepper was 3 stamps if things were good. A five pound bag of cheese was 2 books to the store guy. The price fluctuated daily depending on how many people were getting them out of the kitchen. Dirty pictures were 3 stamps(no porn allowed in the Feds). Decent tattoes were three books. A haircut at the free prison barber shop was 5 stamps, or free if you wanted a poorly done buzz. For a book a month someone would clean your cell for you every day. Or someone would drop off and pick up your laundry. For 10% of your commissary bill you could get bumped to the front of the commissary line. A brand new uniform from laundry for visiting (you were issues used clothes) was a book, but then you needed to pay to have it tailored and pay to get inmate tags printed and sown on. New prison issue boots were a book to the laundry guys. A prison cheese cake (made from coffee creamer and lemon juice) was a book, or four stamps a slice. Minimum bet on a sports gambling ticket was 3 stamps. A book a month to the kitchen to get extra portions on your tray (say 2 slices of roast beef on roast beef day). I don't know alcohol prices but it was a lot and normally all sold before it was made, and if it got busted I think you were just out. Every section had a couple of store guys. You could the things from the commisary for their price + 1 stamp if you replaced them next time you shopped, or a couple stamp premium if paying in just stamps. A cold soda was 2 stamps. A candy bar 3 stamps. Home made taffy made from coffee creamer was 2 for a stamp.

jrumbut 5y ago
This is a fascinating post, thank you for sharing your experiences! That coffee creamer and lemon juice cheesecake sounds interesting. Do you still crave and/or make at home any of the weird food items you described? Where did you store 5 pounds of cheese?
- ROTMetro 5y ago
  Tamales made by crushing up Dorritos and pork rinds, soaking them and using them for the masa was delicious, but f@#k no I never crave prison food. Also, we had no microwave, so everything is cooked in a trash bag in a trash can filled with hot water. Also all our excercise during COVID was by using trash bags filled with water as weights. The guards would pop the bags and flood all your stuff. Telling you where the cheese is kept would be considered snitching ;)
- ROTMetro 5y ago
  What would be really interesting would be for someone to look at all the behind the scenes to make this work. Like I said it took a coordinate effort to keep books at $8 a book and not say $6. This had to happen between the pissas, white boys, serenos, blacks, and natives. Almost like each prison has it's own interracial Federal Reserve Bank. It was in their interest to not let it move down because they are all sitting on tens of thousands of dollars worth of stamps.
ROTMetro 5y ago
More items. 5 stamps to have an artist make a card like a birthday or xmas card for you to send your family. A book (20 stamps, $8) for a month of someone elses phone time (during COVID I think we got 350 minutes a month to call family because no one was allowed family visits but normally it was 250 so people use all that time and need more) but a lot of times phone time was extorted (That was the most extorted thing I saw). 20 stamps for a pound of cooked roast beef delivered. Someone figured out how to reload photo copy cards for the copy machine, so instead of $12 at commissary a reload was 5 stamps. Craft work you can no longer send home unless you made it so that was harder and harder for guys to use as their hustle and sell.

jrumbut 5y ago

This is a fascinating post, thank you for sharing your experiences! That coffee creamer and lemon juice cheesecake sounds interesting. Do you still crave and/or make at home any of the weird food items you described? Where did you store 5 pounds of cheese?

ROTMetro 5y ago
Tamales made by crushing up Dorritos and pork rinds, soaking them and using them for the masa was delicious, but f@#k no I never crave prison food. Also, we had no microwave, so everything is cooked in a trash bag in a trash can filled with hot water. Also all our excercise during COVID was by using trash bags filled with water as weights. The guards would pop the bags and flood all your stuff. Telling you where the cheese is kept would be considered snitching ;)
ROTMetro 5y ago
What would be really interesting would be for someone to look at all the behind the scenes to make this work. Like I said it took a coordinate effort to keep books at $8 a book and not say $6. This had to happen between the pissas, white boys, serenos, blacks, and natives. Almost like each prison has it's own interracial Federal Reserve Bank. It was in their interest to not let it move down because they are all sitting on tens of thousands of dollars worth of stamps.

ROTMetro 5y ago

More items. 5 stamps to have an artist make a card like a birthday or xmas card for you to send your family. A book (20 stamps, $8) for a month of someone elses phone time (during COVID I think we got 350 minutes a month to call family because no one was allowed family visits but normally it was 250 so people use all that time and need more) but a lot of times phone time was extorted (That was the most extorted thing I saw). 20 stamps for a pound of cooked roast beef delivered. Someone figured out how to reload photo copy cards for the copy machine, so instead of $12 at commissary a reload was 5 stamps. Craft work you can no longer send home unless you made it so that was harder and harder for guys to use as their hustle and sell.