It is more expensive to live inside than outside: uses of money and costs of life in jail

Abstract

A series of ethnographic events will allow us to understand what is needed to live in a context of ambulatory deprivation of liberty. We begin by examining the economic exchanges within a men’s prison in Entre Ríos which are fundamental to daily life. In the labor workshops, inmates exchange their work for what is called "peculio," a form of remuneration that allows the acquisition of basic goods and services. In addition, family visits play a crucial role in accessing resources, as they bring goods from outside, expanding the exchange options within the prison environment. These exchanges not only enable material survival but also define a particular economy, with norms and cultural practices that determine the cost of goods and services exchanged.
During the two years of ethnographic fieldwork conducted at Unidad Penal N.° 1 “Juan José O’Connor” we observed the importance of the circulation of goods as a form of resistance and adaptation to the conditions of life. Production within the prison, though often precarious and sometimes degrading, is also a space where inmates generate some type of economic value and pass the time.
Understanding the meaning of money in this context reveals internal economic dynamics as well as forms of socialization, power, and resistance that emerge in a space of forced cohabitation.