Pruno: Alcoholic Beverage in Prison
Pruno is an alcoholic beverage made from fruit, sugar, bread, and water. It originated in prisons, where inmates produce it cheaply from available ingredients. The sugar helps the fruit ferment into alcohol. Pruno contains between 2-14% alcohol depending on the ingredients and fermentation time. The alcohol content makes prisoners ill or causes death because dangerous toxins are often present.
Making Pruno in Jail
To make pruno, prisoners mix fruit, fruit juice, sugar, bread, and water in a bag. They let it ferment for 1-2 weeks, releasing built-up gases daily by "burping" the bag. Adding bananas speeds fermentation but makes the pruno disgusting. The fermenting fruit sugar creates the ethanol alcohol.
Other Prison Alcohol
Pruno resembles the flavor of MD 20/20 fortified wine. The alcohol gets prisoners drunk and passes time. Other prison alcohol goes by "hooch" or "white lightning." Hooch also refers to non-prison homemade spirits. White lightning specifically means illegally-made, dangerous moonshine.