Arnold Barnes III writes about hustles in prison and the many ways incarcerated people use talent, labor, and creativity to get basic necessities, build up commissary, and even send money home.
Whether friends in the world send money to your books or the prison you’re in pays for your labor — some don’t — matters not. There are still countless ways to acquire your basic necessities and a whole lot more.
With the numerous penitentiary hustles I’m about to showcase, you can not only fill your locker up with everything you need and want, but you can even send money home.
Over the course of 17 years, I’m sure I’ve easily spent over $2,000 on many of these services. So understand, it doesn’t stop just because we’re locked.
Drawing
With everything from colored pencils to water paints and drawing pads available at commissary, this is a major hustle if you have talent.
When my children were young, I would get their favorite cartoon characters drawn up and send them with my letters. People also love to pay to have portraits drawn of their loved ones to send home.
I’ve personally spent hundreds on several artists, sending some of the most amazing drawings I’ve ever seen to family and friends. This is a skill you can teach yourself, and if you’re good at it, you can actually pay bills back home.
Cake Man or Woman
Sugar is a drug. And penitentiary cake is so big on the inside that it has leaked into kitchens in the free world through TikTok and other forms of media.
But who can resist my strawberry cheesecake made from vanilla wafers, cream cheese pound cakes, and strawberry preserves? And when I set out my chocolate-iced doughnuts made from duplex crème cookies and chocolate hazelnut spread, they sell out immediately.
You’re only limited by your imagination.
And if you can imagine that it takes $4 to make a basic cheesecake with eight slices for $1 apiece — and you can sometimes sell two cakes a day — you can see why the cake man has one of the baddest hustles in prison.
Washing Clothes
Don’t look down on this hustle. It’s actually one of the most lucrative.
I’ve known people who made hundreds of dollars a month washing clothes, shoes, jackets, and blankets. Most people don’t like to wash their own clothes by hand, so this hustle is in great demand and can be very lucrative.
Handyman
There is always somebody on the section who can fix radios and headphones, and who knows how to make and fix speakers.
And for good reason. These items they sell us on commissary are cheap and are always breaking down. I just paid someone to fix my hot pot and the charger to my tablet.
Learn to fix appliances, and you will always have a hustle.
Tattoo Artist
This is a grand hustle.
This is the most demanded and most lucrative of all penitentiary hustles. If you are excellent in this art, people will outbid each other for your time. The best tattoo artists have a waiting list that stretches to their release date.
You literally can make tens of thousands of dollars with this hustle and come home banked up.
Two-for-One
Just like there is someone who washes clothes on every section, there is also a two-for-one man selling commissary out of his locker for double the price at the next store.
Because of the demand for coffee, cookies, and chips, if you keep these items in abundance, people will come to you offering to pay you double, essentially making you the de facto two-for-one man.
Seamstress
If you know how to sew and alter clothing, you will be in demand. You may be asked to make everything from beanie hats out of socks to muscle shirts out of thermal tops.
Lots of people are also looking for someone to tailor their clothes.
This is a good hustle.
Grill Cooks
I know people who have run whole restaurants out of their cells for years, grilling food on their table or bunk using the heating element from the hot water pots sold to us on commissary.
I cannot resist a C-Ray burger or the smell of Mike’s tacos cooking. If you can cook and can find a connect in the kitchen to bring you ground beef, butter, cheese, and other items, you will have a line out front of your cell every time you turn the grill on.
This is a very in-demand and lucrative hustle.
