{"id":179,"date":"2006-11-30T17:05:00","date_gmt":"2006-11-30T23:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/2006\/11\/30\/recipe-for-prison-pruno\/"},"modified":"2006-11-30T17:05:00","modified_gmt":"2006-11-30T23:05:00","slug":"recipe-for-prison-pruno","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/2006\/11\/30\/recipe-for-prison-pruno\/","title":{"rendered":"recipe for prison pruno"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>i’m in nyc for a punishment conference at the new school. after today’s academic sessions, richard gere and carey lowell offered a dramatic reading of prison writings.<\/p>\n

the actors were working with some great material, of course, since there are some amazing writers behind bars. prison writing is challenging because simple, matter-of-fact reporting can come off as melodramatic to those of us on the outside. the best writers, of course, juxtapose telling descriptions of the mundane and taken-for-granted — the ceaseless noise, the odors, the lack of natural light — with the high drama and harsh reality that punctuates prison life.<\/p>\n

for example, patricia prewitt’s contraband<\/em><\/a> <\/em>brilliantly conveys the small absurdities of prison life from an inmate’s perspective. other writers addressed heavier issues involving fear, pain, violence, and hopelessness. i found the pieces by jarvis jay masters<\/a> to be especially moving. pieces such as “mourning exercise” make clear that mr. masters is not just a good prison <\/em>writer. this one knocked me out:<\/p>\n

recipe for prison pruno<\/em><\/p>\n

Take ten peeled oranges,
Jarvis Masters, it is the judgment and sentence of this court,
<\/em>one 8 oz. bowl of fruit cocktail,
that the charged information was true,<\/em>
squeeze the fruit into a small plastic bag,
and the jury having previously, on said date,<\/em>
and put the juice along with the mash inside,
found that the penalty shall be death,<\/em>
add 16 oz. of water and seal the bag tightly.
and this Court having, on August 20, 1991,<\/em>
Place the bag into your sink,
denied your motion for a new trial,<\/em>
and heat it with hot running water for 15 minutes.
it is the order of this Court that you suffer death,<\/em>
wrap towels around the bag to keep it warm for fermentation.
said penalty to be inflicted within the walls of San Quentin,<\/em>
Stash the bag in your cell undisturbed for 48 hours.
at which place you shall be put to death,
<\/em>When the time has elapsed,
in the manner prescribed by law,<\/em>
add 40 to 60 cubes of white sugar,
the date later to be fixed by the Court in warrant of execution.<\/em>
six teaspoons of ketchup,
You are remanded to the custody of the warden of San Quentin,<\/em>
then heat again for 30 minutes,
to be held by him pending final<\/em>
secure the bag as done before,
determination of your appeal.<\/em>
then stash the bag undisturbed again for 72 hours.
It is so ordered.<\/em>
Reheat daily for 15 minutes.
In witness whereof,<\/em>
After 72 hours,
I have hereon set my hand as Judge of this Superior Court,
<\/em>with a spoon, skim off the mash,
and I have caused the seal of this Court to be affixed thereto.<\/em>
pour the remaining portion into two 18 oz. cups.
May God have mercy on your soul.<\/em>
Guzzle down quickly
Mr. Jarvis Masters.<\/em>
Gulp Gulp Gulp!<\/p>\n

California State Prison-San Quentin
1992<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

i’m in nyc for a punishment conference at the new school. after today’s academic sessions, richard gere and carey lowell offered a dramatic reading of prison writings. the actors were working with some great material, of course, since there are some amazing writers behind bars. prison writing is challenging because simple, matter-of-fact reporting can come […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thesocietypages.org\/pubcrim\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}