One of the most enduring tropes about prison, onscreen and off, is that cigarettes are as good as cash. That may have been true at one point, but not anymore. Most American prisons are essentially smoke-free now, out of concern about lawsuits over the long-term effects of second-hand smoke on guards and inmates. So of course, cigs have gone from being valuable prison currency to being a black-market staple.
Let's be serious: Just because inmates aren't supposed to smoke in prison doesn't mean they don't, and just because cigarettes are banned doesn't mean you can't get them. We are talking about prison, after all, and just about anything can be smuggled in. But even inmates who aren't master smugglers can still enjoy a smoke thanks to a combination of leaf tea, nicotine lozenges, and maybe the greatest jailhouse commodity of all — ingenuity — known on the inside as "teabacco." The good news, in a sense, is that over a dozen states still allow inmates to smoke, and so the war on teabacco is being won.
As far as other types of prison currency, there are still plenty of ways to get what you want. Bartering with commissary goods like postage stamps, coffee, and packets of ramen soup is still a good method. There's also intimidation, bribery, and good old-fashioned theft, too. We are talking about prison, after all.
