Poppin' Bottles in Prison

Upon reading a wild article about a death-row inmate in Esquire, I came across this wildly inventive technique the inmates use to make booze. If anyone is so brave enough to try it at home, don't bother to tell me about it; I'm assured you will have vomited and brought great disgrace to your family honor.

“Real death-row parties, however, require a batch of pruno, the prison hooch: Take the grapefruit that comes with Saturday breakfast, peel, crush, and place in an empty milk carton. Enzymes remaining inside the carton, combined with natural yeast from the air, trigger fermentation within a few days. Dump into a garbage bag and add a pound of sugar and a pound of canteen-bought prunes per person. Let sick for a sick, occasionally (and when no guards are around) burping out excess gas. Strain pulp through a sock. The alcohol content...is as much as 12 percent, and the taste is about what you'd expect from something filtered through a sock. Still, if you can stomach a couple twenty-ounce cups, pruno provides “a good escape.” (123)

Finkel, Michael. "When Christian Long asked me if I wanted to watch him die, I told him I did." Esquire. January 2010.