i served 15 days in county jail for marijuana, so i only have a vague understanding of how the prison trade works but for what i learned:
there is a commissary system. Your relatives mail checks to the prison with the inmate number on them. that money is then reserved for the inmate, for which he can use to buy commissary items such as your basic toiletries like a comb, deodorant, even shaving cream. you can also buy snacks like twinkies (yes, twinkies, not kidding) swiss cake rolls, cheetos, chocolate chip cookies, and countless many others. the most popular food in prison is ramen, and that costs about a dollar for four packets.
and there isn't any paper money in jail. its all bank-account type stuff. in texas prison, i've heard that commissary comes twice a week where you can get all your goodies and you can trade from there.
drugs can be traded for food, or other drugs, or what the fuck ever. the last thing i can say is that, believe it or not, i repeat: believe it or not, there are some smart mother fucking people in prison. like, smart mother fucking people in prison. of course, there are dumb ones, but man, the smart ones in prison will get away with the most outrageous shit in the most streneous circumstances.
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