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The Dangers of Pruno  


Author:  Margaret Moreland.


Source: Volume 17, Number 04, May/June 2016 , pp.55-56(2)




Correctional Health Care Report

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Abstract: 

Pruno is a venerable prison tradition, usually prepared by prison inmates from a mixture of fruit, sugar, and water milk, fermented to produce alcohol. In 2004 and 2005, pruno was the source of botulism in five California inmates. Three were critical and had to be mechanically ventilated. In 2011, eight maximum security inmates in Utah contracted botulism from drinking pruno and three had to be mechanically ventilated. In 2012, there were two outbreaks in Arizona associated with pruno. Eight of the twelve inmates with botulism had to be mechanically ventilated. In 2011 and 2012, these pruno-related outbreaks accounted for 40% and 48% of foodborne botulism cases in the U.S. Because there was a lack of information about the illicit alcohol, a team of researchers that included Maroya Spalding Walters, Nandini Sreenivasan, Bobbie Person, Mark Shew, Daniel Wheeler, Julia Hall, Linda Bogdanow, Karyn Leniek, and Agam Rao conducted a study at the Utah State Prison in Salt Lake County, the site of the 2011 outbreak, “to better understand the brewing process, social context of pruno, and communication strategies for informing inmates about the risk of botulism from pruno.” This article reviews their findings.

Keywords: Botulism; fermented intoxicants

Affiliations:  1: Pace University School of Law Library.

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