SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
An Anonymous Coward suggests the following story: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2016-08/asa-rns081616.php
Ramen noodles are supplanting the once popular cigarettes as a form of currency among state prisoners, but not in response to bans on tobacco products within prison systems, finds a new study.
Instead, study author Michael Gibson-Light, a doctoral candidate in the University of Arizona School of Sociology, found that inmates are trying to figure out ways to better feed themselves as certain prison services are being defunded.
[...] "Prison staff members as well as members of the inmate population provided narratives of the history of changes in prison food -- the past few decades have seen steady decreases in the quality and quantity of inmate food," Gibson-Light said.
"Prisoners are so unhappy with the quality and quantity of prison food that they receive that they have begun relying on ramen noodles -- a cheap, durable food product -- as a form of money in the underground economy," he said. "Because it is cheap, tasty, and rich in calories, ramen has become so valuable that it is used to exchange for other goods."
Those other goods include other food items, clothing, hygiene products, and even services, such as laundry and bunk cleaning, Gibson-Light said. Others use ramen noodles as bargaining chips in gambling when playing card games or participating in football pools, he said.
[...] "Throughout the nation, we can observe prison cost-cutting and cost-shifting as well as changes in the informal economic practices of inmates," he said. "Services are cut back and many costs are passed on to inmates in an effort to respond to calls to remain both tough on crime and cost effective."
The US authorities and most citizens prefer a punitive instead of a rehabilitative approach, despite the fact that most prisoners are eventually let out of prison alive.
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Thursday August 25 2016, @08:07AM
It's not just common sense. Pretty much every fictionalized jail show (e.g. Orange is the New Black) or "realistic" jail show (e.g. Sixty Days In) has Ramen as currency.
I feel like it's like news outlets going gaga over the fact that shanks exist. Duh. I know that, because I was minimally exposed to culture.
(Score: 2) by FatPhil on Thursday August 25 2016, @08:49AM
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people; the smallest discuss themselves
(Score: 2) by Capt. Obvious on Thursday August 25 2016, @09:15AM
The fictionalized shows are supposed to be contemporary. Some cases (e.g. Orange is the New Black) are worse than the real source materials they are based on, but not dramatically so.
But, yeah, realistic, not distopian.
By the way, I have no problem with treats being the currency in prison. Oreos or whatnot. It's just sad that it has to be something based on its filling/nutritional value, not taste.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Thursday August 25 2016, @01:17PM
By the way, I have no problem with treats being the currency in prison. Oreos or whatnot. It's just sad that it has to be something based on its filling/nutritional value, not taste.
I've always thought ramen was very tasty! But then again, I enjoy drinking Soylent, so maybe I'm not the one to judge...
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings