Shawn Dustin Powell explains how you have to learn a few prison hustles if you want to afford the basic necessities in prison, unless you’re one of the lucky ones with outside family and friends willing to send you money. 

Many inmates have friends, girlfriends, a family, or a wife to support them financially during their  incarceration — but many others don’t. So people with no outside connections have to do something to support themselves while in prison.

Over the many years I’ve spent behind bars, I’ve seen people do all sorts of creative things to survive in prison. I’ve done a few myself.

If someone is a good artist in prison, they will have no problem supporting themselves while incarcerated because plenty of people will pay them for their work. Artwork is in high demand, especially tattoos, and I have seen some excellent drawings, tattoos and paintings that were of superb level work. I myself am not that great of an artist, as far as drawing goes, but I can trace patterns and apply them to cards if necessary.

Some of the things I have seen made in prison are paintings, beadwork, jewelry boxes, hand carved soap, figurines, model ships and picture frames, to name a few.

The aforementioned items made with supplies from a vendor typically require materials that cost money and can be expensive if you do not have the means.

People that have no support system or money must get even more creative. This usually means taking items that are readily available and figuring out what to do with them to turn a profit.

I had a neighbor once who used to sew clothing with a sewing needle he had made out of a paperclip or a staple. He would alter clothing, make gloves, or repair items that had ripped, including shoes. He would only charge a few dollars, but every day a few people would stop by his cell to drop off items; either clothing items that needed repair, or commissary items to pay him for those repairs.

I have seen numerous tattoo artists use motors from old CD players or hair clippers to assemble handmade tattoo guns heating up pen springs to stretch them out for the needles. They would make ink from burning baby oil or chess pieces and mixing the soot with a few drops of water, which I have done in order to get my own tattoos and it can become very messy.

Others need only pencil and paper to create drawings or portraits.

Food is another item that can be profitable behind bars. If you work in the kitchen and can bring back peanut butter, snacks, or other items that have been cooked, such as stir-fry or breakfast burritos, people will pay for them. For prisons that do not allow food to be taken out of the chow hall, it has to be smuggled out of the kitchen somehow. Food items from the kitchen or commissary can be used to make different things like cakes, candy and granola bars.

Although I had always seen people making things in prison, I myself never had to because my mom — who was in prison when I was young — used to send me money every month and the occasional package. I also had a “girlfriend” who would look out for me as well.

But eventually, she and I parted ways. And five years into my sentence, my mother passed away.

So, now what?

Although I was aware of almost all the hustles in prison, I had never thought that I’d be in that position myself. I had hustled on the streets to support a drug habit but this seemed harder in a way.

On the streets, you have a lot more freedom to navigate and a lot more resources available,  including people to network with. Prison is restrictive and the same people surround you for days, even years at a time.

There was one thing I knew how to do that I knew would make money, but it was a high-risk, high reward situation. It made a lot of money, but it could also add time to my prison sentence if I was caught.

So of course — I did it. I started to make white lightning.

A quart of white lightning would sell for $100 or more, and if it’s made right, it will sell fast.

White lightning is almost pure alcohol if made right and it tastes pretty much like rubbing alcohol. To make white lightning you have to first, make “pruno.” Pruno is made with rotten fruit and sugar, which takes 3-7 days to ferment, and then you have to boil the pruno and funnel the steam into a bag, which is then transferred to a bottle.

I did this a few times until I was caught and four months were added to my sentence. I also lost privileges like canteen and yard — so I decided it was not worth it.

It was time to go legit, so the next venture I decided to pursue was the candy business. I had a friend that ran a two for one business out of his cell; he would let you borrow whatever canteen items you wanted but you had to pay him back double the amount. So for example, if you wanted a honeybun you had to give him back two later.

He used to make and sell taffy on the side so he explained how it was made. With $5 of materials, you can more than double your return.

Here’s how it works. You take coffee creamer and mix it with Kool-Aid, add a little bit of water and keep kneading it like dough until you can roll it out flat. Then you add Tajin or Chamoy on top of it. You have to mix the ratio just right though or it won’t come out right.

I did this for a few months off and on and continue to do it to this day; sometimes it sells better than other times but overall it helps to bring in a few necessities.

When I got to the prison I currently reside in I noticed an overweight older fellow selling cheesecakes for $25 apiece and people were actually buying them. These were made with nothing more than state supplied food such as gram crackers and peanut butter however there was an ingredient that had to be ordered in a package — cream cheese. Although this is a lucrative business, the downside is that once you run out of cream cheese you have to wait 90 days for another package — because that’s all they allow.

One day, I figured I would give it a shot. It took a couple tries to get the cheesecakes just right, but that also became one of my learned prison hustles.

Not long ago I ended up taking an art class taught by a professor that was formerly incarcerated; one of the assignments was to create origami figures. During that time, I learned how to make origami roses.

At first I thought nothing of it but then one day I thought if I can put a stem and couple of leaves on the rose somehow, I would have an actual paper replica of a rose – so that’s what I did.

Next thing you know people started buying them for a dollar a piece. Once again, I had learned a craft that could provide for me while incarcerated.

Today I combine all crafts I have learned and do what I have to do to make it in prison. I am not making a whole lot of money as of right now but I do ok and am able to get the necessities I need to live comfortably while in prison.

If I can be successful in here with limited resources then I will be able to obtain success in society with a college degree. I hope that readers will not have to experience life incarcerated, but if you do, or are currently incarcerated with no financial support, I urge you to use your creativity and start making it in prison.

Shawn Dustin Powell

Shawn Dustin Powell is currently incarcerated in Centinela State Prison. He has an associate’s degree in communication and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in journalism through San Diego State University with plans to attend law school in the near future.

The post To Survive, Learn a Few Prison Hustles first appeared on Prison Writers.