Contraband

Why is Contraband a Problem?

Above all, prison administrators want uniformity in the prison system. Prison should be classless, without [Page 161]distinction or wealth or poverty. People must, therefore, wear the same clothing, eat from the same menu, and have comparable living quarters.

In their efforts to maintain order and sameness among the prisoner population, administrators issue a specific quantity of clothing to each inmate. If this clothing is altered in any way, such as a patch or the insertion of pockets, the clothing becomes defined as contraband. It may then be confiscated, and the inmate may face disciplinary action. For example, if an individual purchases a sweatshirt from the commissary with personal funds and then marks the sweatshirt with a name or symbol, the item becomes contraband.

Each prisoner is entitled to food, shelter, and clothing as provided by the institution. The prisoners may purchase specific items for personal use or consumption from the commissary, but only in limited quantities. They are not allowed to hoard items, to transfer ownership, or to relocate government-issued supplies from specifically authorized areas to nonauthorized ones. For example, although vegetables may be served and authorized in the food services department, kitchen foods immediately become contraband if they are transferred to the living quarters for consumption there.

Why is Contraband Important to Prisoners?

Just as administrators strive to create homogeneity within the confines of each institution, the prisoners struggle to preserve some aspect of their individuality. Their names have been replaced with numbers; they have been stripped of their freedom, their clothing, and their identities. As a result, acquiring something that is not government issue brings some flavor, some variety to the monotony of daily prison life.

Prisoners may also alter clothing or property for utilitarian reasons. For example, the prison commissary may sell athletic apparel without pockets. Prisoners are required, however, to carry their prison identification with them at all times. Some, therefore, sew pockets into their clothing to hold such items. The commissary may also sell battery-operated radios or reading lights. Prisoners may modify these items with electrical adapters so they can avoid the costly purchase of batteries.

Prisoners may purchase contraband food from those who hustle it out of the kitchen in order to eat on their own schedule rather than on those imposed by the prison authorities. They may use contraband fruit, sugar, and yeast as ingredients for a prison-made wine or hooch. Finally, they may modify structured elements of the prison such as a pipe or piece of steel into a weapon for use against others; they may collect rope as a tool for escape or for suicide.

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