At the start of my incarceration I wasn't aware of the importance of a commissary account and what it could afford you. It played a huge difference in making day to day life more comfortable, especially for women. Decent shampoo and conditioner, brand name soap and body lotion, better deodorant, pommade for hair, a toothbrush longer than your pinkie and other necessities like a writing pad, pen and stamped envelopes. But by far the most important item in your weekly brown bag of goodies was the bag(s) of coffee. Coffee is a quick and cheap and legitimate buzz. If you didn't drink much before you went to jail, and I didn't, you sure did once you got there.
In jail, coffee is money as surely as dollar bills are. Like money, coffee got everyone excited. Keeping coffee once you had it was as hard as keeping your paycheck intact on the outside. Everyone wanted a piece of it. A 4oz. bag of instant coffee cost $3.35 Creamer was 50¢ for 10 and so was sugar. Roughly 15 cups in a bag, therefore a cup of coffee with 2 creamers and a sugar cost 42¢. I tried to get 2 bags a week and given that you always gave some away that usually lasted me a week.
It soon became apparent that I would have to do something to get more money/coffee or candy bars. I wasn't getting enough money put into my account from my friends on the outside to support my phone habits not to mention my store needs. I couldn't cut hair. That was always a good way to make coffee. Someone else had the market on making designer stationary - but watching her helped me come up with a way of my own. Martine showed me how to color artwork with baby powder deodorant and colored magazine pages. I could draw for people and color the drawings, but what? I had already signed up for "Art Behind Bars" and so was able to get card stock. After some trial and error I launched my series of postcards "Jail Bird Blues". The women loved them - and more importantly, paid for them! Each one cost 2 Snickers, or Milky Ways or a few healthy spoonfuls of coffee. Then I came out with colorful, handwoven, custom made wallets. They were great for keeping important papers or family photos. They were also pretty lucrative. Now, combine all that with the fact that I was getting Rolling Stone, Vogue and Glamor Magazine subscriptions sent to me which I rented out, plus I was in the only cell that had hot water. The women needed hot water to make coffee... Yup, after a while I was doing just fine in jail making lots of coffee.
In jail, coffee is money as surely as dollar bills are. Like money, coffee got everyone excited. Keeping coffee once you had it was as hard as keeping your paycheck intact on the outside. Everyone wanted a piece of it. A 4oz. bag of instant coffee cost $3.35 Creamer was 50¢ for 10 and so was sugar. Roughly 15 cups in a bag, therefore a cup of coffee with 2 creamers and a sugar cost 42¢. I tried to get 2 bags a week and given that you always gave some away that usually lasted me a week.
It soon became apparent that I would have to do something to get more money/coffee or candy bars. I wasn't getting enough money put into my account from my friends on the outside to support my phone habits not to mention my store needs. I couldn't cut hair. That was always a good way to make coffee. Someone else had the market on making designer stationary - but watching her helped me come up with a way of my own. Martine showed me how to color artwork with baby powder deodorant and colored magazine pages. I could draw for people and color the drawings, but what? I had already signed up for "Art Behind Bars" and so was able to get card stock. After some trial and error I launched my series of postcards "Jail Bird Blues". The women loved them - and more importantly, paid for them! Each one cost 2 Snickers, or Milky Ways or a few healthy spoonfuls of coffee. Then I came out with colorful, handwoven, custom made wallets. They were great for keeping important papers or family photos. They were also pretty lucrative. Now, combine all that with the fact that I was getting Rolling Stone, Vogue and Glamor Magazine subscriptions sent to me which I rented out, plus I was in the only cell that had hot water. The women needed hot water to make coffee... Yup, after a while I was doing just fine in jail making lots of coffee.
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