NOODLE MONEY IN AMERICAN PRISONS

According to Amy B. Wang in The WashingtonPost Wonkblog, August 23, 2016, instant ramen noodleshave "become the black-market currency in Americanprisons."

She reports that Michael Gibson-Light, a doctoralcandidate in the University of Arizona School ofSociology, has completed a new study indicating thatinstant ramen noodles are overtaking tobacco as thepreferred underground currency for prison inmates.Their main advantage? They are nonperishable,"ludicrously cheap," easy to cook, and delicious.

Ah, but there may be political overtones here.Gibson-Light issued a press release on his studyclaiming that "Prisoners are so unhappy with the qualityand quantity of prison food that they receive that theyhave begun relying on ramen noodles-a cheap, durablefood product-as a form of money in the undergroundeconomy. Because it is cheap, tasty and rich in calories,ramen has become so valuable that it is used to exchangefor other goods."

Gibson-Light based his conclusion on interviewswith 60 male inmates and staff members at a singlestate-run facility over a year's time. Not surprisingly, heheard gripes about the cuisine at this institution. He thenfactored them in to a larger investigation into howprisoners were responding to "declining prisonservices," claiming to have uncovered "punitivefrugality," that is, the cost of care shifting on to prisonersand their support networks because of shrinkingcorrections budgets. At this particular institution, about15 years ago, hot lunches were replaced by a sandwichand a bag of chips, and portion sizes reduced, he wastold.

Turning away from the advocacy aspect of thisstudy, one inmate told Gibson-Light why ramen noodleswere desired: "It's 'cause people are hungry. You cantell how good a man's doing [financially] by how manysoups he's got in his locker. 'Twenty soups? Oh, thatguy's doing good!'" Gibson-Light referred to this as a"prison ramen black market."

Wang also quoted Gustavo "Goose" Alvarez, co-author of Prison Ramen: Recipes and Stories fromBehind Bars, published November 2015. "Goose" spenttime in prison twice, once in the mid '90s and againfrom 2006 to 2013. "He quickly learned how criticalramen was to the inmate economy....'It's gold. It'sliterally gold,' Alvarez told The Washington Post.'People will actually-and I hate to say this but-they'llkill for it, believe it or not.'"

"Alvarez said he never ate ramen beforeincarceration but quickly discovered that the cheapbricks were a no-brainer purchase at the prisoncommissary if he wanted to stretch his account. 'It got tothe point where some people would rather have a decentmeal than a stogie, especially the way they're feeding usin prison.'"

Like any currency, the value of a ramen packfluctuated. "'I remember in '92, you could get them for20 cents a ramen,' Alvarez said. 'In 2013, the last time Iwas in prison, they were equivalent to $1 a ramen,sometimes $2.'" Now living in Playas de Tijuana,Mexico, "Goose" does not associate ramen with prison;"His pantry is full of packs of Maruchan, still his go-tobrand," which he buys at Walmart.

Ramen was invented in 1958 by Taiwanese-Japanese entrepreneur Momofuku Ando and soonbecame popular worldwide. It is now a multibillion-dollar industry, according to Wang.

Your editor observes that ramen was already apopular prison currency a decade before hot luncheswere eliminated at the state institution Gibson-Lightvisited. Also, smoking has been in decline in the UnitedStates for many years, clearly reducing the desirability ofcigarettes as an alternative currency, even though it waspermitted at the institution Gibson-Light saw.

Bob adds:

To read the complete article, see:
RAMEN AS CURRENCY IN AMERICAN PRISONS(www.coinbooks.org/esylum_v19n35a42.html)