The informal economy in prison

This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.

Prisons are, by definition, coercive organisations where prisoners have limited control over their day-today life. In each prison, there is one shop, the ‘canteen’, and there are jobs available for prisoners to supplement their weekly allowance. These constitute the formal prison economy – the legitimate methods for prisoners to earn wages and purchase goods. However, the prison environment also provides informal ways of making money and obtaining prohibited items.