This article is from WeChat official account:CITIC Publishing Group (ID: citicpub), editor: Sangsang, original title: “ After cigarettes and Chinese instant noodles, there is a new hard currency in American prisons”, the title picture comes from: “Shawshank’s Redemption” stills
American prisons can be said to be one of the most favorite urban legends of modern people.
It circulates the myth that a spoon digs a tunnel of freedom from prison.
Picture: “Mythbusters” Alcatraz Island Escape
It has witnessed countless tragicomedies related to the turning point of life: some people left a “2 minute” tragic story, and some lucky ones “debut when in prison” to the peak of life…
Of course, more people like the secret stories that happened in American prisons: how “big guys” strategize in prison and disturb the external situation, how small people are intrigue and form gangs, how to trade drugs in hidden corners ……(Remember the ancient American drama “Prison Break” that was all the rage?)
Today, let’s start with a trivial little bit of underground trading in prison.
1. Low-paid wage earners in prison
The exploitation of labor in prisons is not different because you have committed petty thefts or committed terrible crimes.
In the United States, another nickname for prisons is “farm.”
For example, the Angola prison in Louisiana is named after the slave farm Angola that once existed here.
Enter the main entrance of the prison, pass through the parking lot full of employee vehicles and a small gray block where women prisoners are held. On both sides of the road are fields planted with corn, wheat, and cotton. This is the best farmland in Louisiana, prisoners I work hard here all year round.
Louisiana State Prison, photo: The Guardian
The minimum hourly wage in the United States is 7.25 US dollars, and you can earn 4 cents an hour for picking and other basic agricultural work.
Prisoners in Missouri follow the same wage standard: The monthly salary for a full-time job is US$7.5, which is approximately equal to 4 cents an hour.
But seeing the little in their handsFor money, the old guys in southern Georgia cried with envy: because the “Thirteenth Amendment” allowed prisoners to be forced to labor for their crimes, they made furniture and street signs, but they were not paid.
Working prisoners in Angolan prison, photo: Getty Image
None of the new crown pandemic can prevent prisoners from joining the hot labor industry.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo once boasted about NYS Clean hand sanitizer produced in New York State in March this year: “This is a superior product” and “It has a very charming floral fragrance.”
In fact, this is part of the government’s “Corcraft” program, a company that hires New York State prisoners and pays very low wages-$0.16 per hour.
Picture: Southern Metropolis Daily
The same story happened in the agricultural province of North Carolina.
In response to the governor’s call, the employees of the food company kept social distancing and refused to go to work, so the task of packing chicken had to be topped by cheap labor in the correctional center. According to reports, no one even took their temperature before taking up the job.
Then you should be able to understand how underground trading is in American prisonsNecessary.
Prisoners’ wages are as unshakable as the base of the Statue of Liberty, but in the official prison grocery store, the prices of the goods have grown wildly-the prices have failed.
In the 1970s, a “trumpeter” cigarette that was loved by prisoners retailed for less than 50 cents, and half a day’s work could be exchanged for the enjoyment of “happy as a fairy”; today, cigarettes priced at $8 Equal to one month’s work.
Price links demand and supply. When the official wages and prices no longer match, the officially established prison economy cannot continue to exist.
Accordingly, the underground market established by the prisoners themselves has risen.
II. History of Prison Currency Evolution
The first problem in establishing an underground transaction is to find a suitable general equivalent.
Obviously, U.S. dollars are contraband in prison. There are endless ways to bribe guards, at least not making mistakes in the most basic places.
Picture: A still from “Escape from Danny Mora”, adapted from the true story of a prisoner seducing a female guard to escape from a New York prison