Pruno

Typically, the fermenting mass of fruit—called the motor or kicker in US prison parlance—is retained from batch to batch to make the fermentation start faster. The more sugar is added, the greater the potential for a higher alcohol content—to a point. Beyond this point, the waste products of fermentation (mainly alcohol) cause the motor to die or go dormant as the yeasts' environment becomes too poisoned for them to continue fermenting. This also causes the taste of the end product to suffer. Ascorbic acid powder is sometimes used to stop the fermentation at a certain point, which, combined with the tartness of the added acid, somewhat enhances the taste by reducing the cloyingly sweet flavor associated with pruno.

In 2004 and 2005 botulism outbreaks were reported among inmates in two California prisons; the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suspects that potatoes used in making pruno were to blame in both cases.{{cite journal|vauthors=Vugia DJ, Mase SR, Cole B, Stiles J, Rosenberg J, Velasquez L |title=Botulism from Drinking Pruno |date=January 2009|journal= Emerging Infectious Diseases|volume=15|issue=1|pages=69–71 |display-authors=etal|doi=10.3201/eid1501.081024|pmid=19116055|pmc=2660710}} In 2012, similar botulism outbreaks caused by potato-based pruno were reported among inmates at prisons in Arizona and Utah.{{cite web|last=Hensley|first=Scott|title=Botulism From 'Pruno' Hits Arizona Prison (7 February 2013)|website=NPR |date=7 February 2013 |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2013/02/07/171385104/botulism-from-pruno-hits-arizona-prison|access-date=15 February 2013}}{{cite web|last=Hensley|first=Scott|title=Botulism Outbreak Tied to Contaminated Prison Hooch (5 October 2012)|website=NPR |date=5 October 2012 |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/10/04/162291607/botulism-outbreak-tied-to-contaminated-prison-hooch|access-date=15 February 2013}}

Inmates are not permitted to have alcoholic beverages, and correctional officers confiscate pruno whenever and wherever they find it.{{citation needed|date=May 2025}} In an effort to eradicate pruno, some wardens have gone as far as banning all fresh fruit, fruit juices, and fruit-based food products from prison cafeterias.{{cite news |last=LeDuff |first=Charlie|title=No Vintage California Pruno for New Year's? What's a Jailhouse Oenophile to Do? |date=1 January 2003 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/01/us/no-vintage-california-pruno-for-new-year-s-what-s-a-jailhouse-oenophile-to-do.html |work=The New York Times|access-date=16 February 2013}} But even this is not always enough; there are pruno varieties made almost entirely from sauerkraut and orange juice. Food hoarding in the inmate cells in both prisons and jails allows the inmates to acquire ingredients and produce pruno. During jail and prison inmate cell searches, correctional officers remove excessive or unauthorized food items to halt the production of pruno. Pruno is hidden under bunks, inside toilets, inside walls, trash cans, in the shower area and anywhere inmates feel is safe to brew their pruno away from the prying eyes of correctional officers and jailers.{{cite book|last=Wilkinson|first=William Richard|title=Prison Work: A Tale of Thirty Years in the California Department of Corrections |year=2005|publisher=Ohio State University Press|isbn=0814210015|pages=78–79|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bfw2SUfiWmMC&q=pruno&pg=PA78}}

Jarvis Jay Masters, a death row inmate at San Quentin, offers an oft-referenced recipe for pruno in his poem "Recipe for Prison Pruno",{{cite web|last=Masters|first=Jarvis Jay|title=Recipe for Prison Pruno|url=https://pen.org/recipe-for-prison-pruno/|publisher=PEN America|access-date=11 February 2025|date=2005-06-16}} which won a PEN award in 1992.

Another recipe for pruno can be found in Michael Finkel's Esquire article on Oregon death row inmate Christian Longo.{{cite web|last=Finkel|first=Michael|title=How I Convinced a Death-Row Murderer Not to Die.|url=https://classic.esquire.com/article/2010/1/1/when-christian-longo-asked-if-i-wanted-to-watch-him-die-i-told-him-i-did|work=Esquire|date=21 December 2009|access-date=15 February 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108033914/http://www.esquire.com/features/christian-longo-0110-3|archive-date=8 November 2012}}

In 2004 at the American Homebrewers Association's National Homebrew Conference in Las Vegas, a pruno competition and judging was held.

{{colbegin}}

• Bum wine
• Changaa
• Chicha
• Drinking culture
• Jenkem
• Kilju
• Kvas
• Moonshine (hooch)
• Pájaro verde
• Poitín
• Bootlegging
• Tepache
• Tharra
• White Lightning

{{colend}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://www.moderndrunkardmagazine.com/issues/11-03/11-03-jailhouse.htm "Jailhouse Hooch: How to Get Liquored Up While Locked Down"] from Modern Drunkard Magazine
• [http://www.blacktable.com/gillin030901.htm Blacktable.com] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200413125556/http://www.blacktable.com/gillin030901.htm |date=2020-04-13 }}—a complete pruno recipe, including detailed instructions and frequent disclaimers.
• [http://www.thesneeze.com/mt-archives/000373.php "Steve Don't Eat It, Vol. 8: Prison Wine"]—extensive, humorous account of pruno preparation and tasting, with photographs, from The Sneeze.
• [http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Pruno "How to Make Pruno: 8 steps"]—on wikiHow
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20141203090553/http://www.inmate.com/prison-articles/jailhouse-pruno.htm "Jailhouse Pruno -- Homemade Booze: It'll Kill You"]—story about pruno-making methods, pruno stashing, and the cost of pruno in Sacramento, California's New Folsom prison circa 1995.

{{Alcohol and health}}

Category:Fermented drinks

Category:Prison-related crime

Category:Prison drinks