Ramen is displacing tobacco as most popular US prison currency

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Plazma Inferno!

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Ramen noodles are overtaking tobacco as the most popular currency in US prisons, according a new study.
A new report by Michael Gibson-Light, a doctoral candidate in the University of Arizona’s school of sociology, found the decline in quality and quantity of food available in prisons due to cost-cutting has made ramen noodles a valuable commodity.
Gibson-Light interviewed close to 60 inmates over the course of a year at one state prison as part of a wider study on prison labor. He found that the instant soup has surpassed tobacco as the most prized currency at the prison. He also analyzed other nationwide investigations that he says found a trend towards using ramen noodles in exchanges.
Inmates at the prison Gibson-Light studied went from receiving three hot meals a day to two hot meals and one cold lunch during the week, and only two meals for the whole day on the weekend.
The little food that is available is usually of extremely poor quality. Prisoners said that they did not have enough calories to see them through the day, so ramen provides an additional hit.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/aug/22/ramen-prison-currency-study
 
I am sure I read elsewhere that canned mackerel was the most favoured currency in US prisons.
Seems like it's not wholly mackerel then.
It would be interesting to learn the rate of exchange.
 
In most prisons they have a store that sells many items including food products of various kinds. So when anyone wants something, other than tobacco or alcohol or drugs they can find many things in that store. Raman is just one thing sold at those stores so that anyone can buy it. It will come as no surprise that the meals served up by the prison cafeteria don't always go along with the wants of the prisoners. However the cafeterias do serve a balanced , nutritional diet that will keep prisoners alive and well.
 
cosmic said:
However the cafeterias do serve a balanced , nutritional diet that will keep prisoners alive and well.
Click to expand...
It will keep them alive.

It will not keep them well. It's lousy food, and that has all kinds of effects - none of which benefit the country or the citizenry of the United States.
 
River Ape said:
It would be interesting to learn the rate of exchange.
Click to expand...
Here is a start:
gibsonlight.png
 
cosmictraveler said:
In most prisons they have a store that sells many items including food products of various kinds. So when anyone wants something, other than tobacco or alcohol or drugs they can find many things in that store. Raman is just one thing sold at those stores so that anyone can buy it. It will come as no surprise that the meals served up by the prison cafeteria don't always go along with the wants of the prisoners. However the cafeterias do serve a balanced , nutritional diet that will keep prisoners alive and well.
Click to expand...
Seriously? You haven't the first clue of what you are commenting on - that much is obvious.

The little food that is available is usually of extremely poor quality. Correctional officers warned Gibson-Light not to eat it, as it might result in food poisoning. One corrections officer recalled that he once examined the food in the kitchen and found a box that contained “nasty looking full chickens” that was boldly marked several times with the words “not for human consumption”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...aking-tobacco-as-us-prison-currency-1.2765623

Inmates at the prison in question went from receiving three hot meals a day to two hot meals and one cold lunch during the week, and only two meals for the whole day on the weekend.
The phenomenon is described by Gibson-Light as “punitive frugality”. Spending on corrections has not kept pace with the number of inmates in prisons since 1982, the report found.
Prisoners said that they did not have enough calories to see them through the day, so ramen provides an additional hit.

A study from the University of Arizona found that ramen noodles had overtaken cigarettes as the top currency inside American prisons, The Guardian reports.
His argument: Prisons have had to cut down on food, both in quality and quantity. Instant ramen isn't exactly high-quality, but it's dirt cheap.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...aking-tobacco-as-us-prison-currency-1.2765623

A May 2012 riot at the Adams County Correctional Center, a private prison in Mississippi, left one correctional officer dead and 20 people hurt, according to the review. Low-quality food was cited in media reports as a reason by the roughly 250 inmates involved.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/08/22/ramen-cigarettes-prison_n_11653762.html
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Go back to your white privilege armchair...
​
 
Randwolf said:
Seriously? You haven't the first clue of what you are commenting on - that much is obvious.

The little food that is available is usually of extremely poor quality. Correctional officers warned Gibson-Light not to eat it, as it might result in food poisoning. One corrections officer recalled that he once examined the food in the kitchen and found a box that contained “nasty looking full chickens” that was boldly marked several times with the words “not for human consumption”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...aking-tobacco-as-us-prison-currency-1.2765623

Inmates at the prison in question went from receiving three hot meals a day to two hot meals and one cold lunch during the week, and only two meals for the whole day on the weekend.
The phenomenon is described by Gibson-Light as “punitive frugality”. Spending on corrections has not kept pace with the number of inmates in prisons since 1982, the report found.
Prisoners said that they did not have enough calories to see them through the day, so ramen provides an additional hit.

A study from the University of Arizona found that ramen noodles had overtaken cigarettes as the top currency inside American prisons, The Guardian reports.
His argument: Prisons have had to cut down on food, both in quality and quantity. Instant ramen isn't exactly high-quality, but it's dirt cheap.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...aking-tobacco-as-us-prison-currency-1.2765623

A May 2012 riot at the Adams County Correctional Center, a private prison in Mississippi, left one correctional officer dead and 20 people hurt, according to the review. Low-quality food was cited in media reports as a reason by the roughly 250 inmates involved.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/08/22/ramen-cigarettes-prison_n_11653762.html
​
Go back to your white privilege armchair...
​
Click to expand...


You are so FOS, you dont even know it. Really...What have YOU...YOU DONE? Tired of this.
 
Randwolf said:
Seriously? You haven't the first clue of what you are commenting on - that much is obvious.

The little food that is available is usually of extremely poor quality. Correctional officers warned Gibson-Light not to eat it, as it might result in food poisoning. One corrections officer recalled that he once examined the food in the kitchen and found a box that contained “nasty looking full chickens” that was boldly marked several times with the words “not for human consumption”.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...aking-tobacco-as-us-prison-currency-1.2765623

Inmates at the prison in question went from receiving three hot meals a day to two hot meals and one cold lunch during the week, and only two meals for the whole day on the weekend.
The phenomenon is described by Gibson-Light as “punitive frugality”. Spending on corrections has not kept pace with the number of inmates in prisons since 1982, the report found.
Prisoners said that they did not have enough calories to see them through the day, so ramen provides an additional hit.

A study from the University of Arizona found that ramen noodles had overtaken cigarettes as the top currency inside American prisons, The Guardian reports.
His argument: Prisons have had to cut down on food, both in quality and quantity. Instant ramen isn't exactly high-quality, but it's dirt cheap.
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/offb...aking-tobacco-as-us-prison-currency-1.2765623

A May 2012 riot at the Adams County Correctional Center, a private prison in Mississippi, left one correctional officer dead and 20 people hurt, according to the review. Low-quality food was cited in media reports as a reason by the roughly 250 inmates involved.
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2016/08/22/ramen-cigarettes-prison_n_11653762.html
​
Go back to your white privilege armchair...
​
Click to expand...

I can only tell you what I know of first hand as well as a few friends.
 
Food should never be an issue in this country. America produces enough food to feed the entire earth population five times over. Yes, thats five times.

People in prison shouldnt be catered to but there is no reason for lack of food. Thats just logistics etc. Do you know how much fresh food is thrown out everyday in grocery stores, let alone restaurants? Most of that meat, seafood and produce goes to waste even after food bank or shelter donations. Now multiply that times all of them. Its so superfluous waste. Just like how we overfish, most goes to waste and only a minimum is purchased. Wasteful decadence.
 
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