Howdy,

What you are looking at is a form of money or script that has been around longer than you might imagine. The use of money by prisoners 'made' for the prisoners dates back many a year.

I personally have...wait. Dang, ok a review of my collection brings about the realization that my ex-wife took even more things than what I thought when she cleaned out the house last year, so...

Below is a picture of 3 different types of prison money. The one on the left and the right are front and back of the same coin and yes that's a Coke coin good for getting a Coke from the commissary (Waupun, Wisconsin).

The red coin (light plastic) is front and back of a 10c coin from North Carolina and came in 1c, 5c, 10c and a white (also light plastic) $1 coin.

The top one is from a POW camp during WWII and even though it is a small picture it is in pretty bad shape.

You can do a simple e-bay search for Prison Money, POW Money or Prisoner Money and come up with several examples on a regular basis. In fact, I did just that to get these pictures since I can't find mine atm (hoping they aren't gone).

Most money in prison is discontinued as fakes start to enter the system. In fact I do not know of any currently in use in the USA.

Plastic made coins, such as the red ones can be melted down and re-cast in a mold that is made using a bar of soap. Even if the coin isn't perfect often times 'trustys' are used in the commissarys. With an officer or civilian watching over things so it just has to look good enough to pass a visual inspection.

Metal coins and paper are just a easy when you consider the 24/7 that people have while incarcerated to figure them out.

There are several books on the subject:
Prisoner of War and Concentration Camp Money (2nd edition 1993) by Lance K. Campbell (ISBN 0931960320)

and

Dachau Concentration Camp Script (1992) also by him.

plus

your basic books on money (paper and coin) that reference it.

Like most collecting it is a slippery slope, but then I don't think I need to tell any of you that.

Cheers!