From pecan pralines to ‘dots’ as currency: how the prison economy works

Richard Davies, the author of Extreme Economies: Survival, Failure and Future, documents how economy operates in one of highest security jails of US. From tobacco, to drugs to now a technologically driven dot-system, over the years prisoners have chosen to use different goods as currency. The author succintly explains what goods could emerge as informal currencies in prisons and why goods like tobacco and drugs are commonly used as methods of exchange in prisons. While these modes of payments cannot be used outside the prison walls, prisoners of Louisana jail use an innovative system of dot cards to pay the guards for smuggling drugs into the prison. The author takes some space in this piece to also reflect on how that system works. This piece intends to reflect on the ways an economy works in extreme situations, where cash is contraband, supplies of goods are restrained and consumer demand for goods is high.