Prison Tokens, Coupons and Scrip of the United States and Canada

2020·21.8 MB·English

by  Bob Hewey, Jim Delaney

Prison Tokens,
Coupons and Scrip
of the
United States
and
Canada

by
Bob Hewey
and
Jim Delaney
Copyright 2020 by Bob Hewey and Jim Delaney

Use of this book, including copying, is permitted for private, non-commercial use only. Use of the
numbering system to describe the tokens listed herein is permitted, provided proper acknowledgement is
given.
i

Prison Tokens, Coupons & Scrip of the
United States and Canada

Acknowledgments

We can’t express enough thanks to those that shared their knowledge, wisdom and support to
help create this catalog. We would like to give specials thanks to the following individuals.

Dick Hanscom (Alaskararecoins.com) for information, scans and literature on Alaskan items.
John Byers for information and scans of Texas scrip.
Les Smith for information and guidance on Michigan items.
Bob Smith (Missouri tokens)
Tony Chibbaro for information and scans of South Carolina items.
Darryl Chapman for information and scans of Tennessee items.
Eric Jensen for information and scans of almost all of the Alberta items.
Jim Astwood for information and scans of almost all of the Manitoba items.
Dave St. Onge- Curator/Conservateur for Musée Pénitentiaire du Canada

We also appreciate those sellers on eBay who generously allowed us to use scans of prison
scrip items they had listed. Their acknowledgements are included in the listing notes.

Finally, we owe a debt of gratitude to the late Jerry Zara for creating what most consider to be
the first comprehensive guide to this hobby in his book Prison Tokens and Medals of the United
States. It also includes some historical information about a number of the pieces in the catalog.
We highly recommend that if you do not already have a copy you should contact his publisher,
Paul Cunningham, and obtain one. He has them available for $25 postpaid. For any orders,
send a check or money order to Paul Cunningham, P.O. Box 1, Tecumseh, MI 49286.
ii

Forward

You may ask, “why were there special kinds of money used in prisons, jail and reformatories?” There are
good reasons not to allow legal tender coins and bills in the hands of prisoners. The ready availability of
such currency could encourage bribery, extortion, gambling and facilitate acquisition of contraband and
escapes. Still, there needs to be some type of money so that inmates can purchase discretionary items,
such as snacks, tobacco, toiletries and reading and writing supplies. This catalog will focus on the token
coinage and scrip issued to address these problems in the United States and Canada.

According to our research, the first significant numismatic look at this subject is contained in an article
published in 1960 by Jack F. Burns, Research Associate, Section of Coins and Medals, Carnegie
Museum. More recently, Jerry Zara’s Prison Tokens and Medals of the United States was published by
Paul Cunningham in 1992. This 162-page hardcover book provided the most comprehensive look at the
topic to date, and this new catalog makes occasional reference to Zara’s work and cross-references our
listings to his numbers where possible.

The first widely used alternative currency in prisons and jails were tokens. While these reduced the
chance of bribery of correction officers and hindered escape, they did not eliminate their use for gambling,
contraband and extortion. To counter this, institutions would put limits on the value of such tokens that the
inmate could draw from an account or have in his or her possession. Other than tokens, coupons issued
in booklets or attached as tear-offs to cards, punch cards and credit slips have been used in prisons to
address the purchasing needs of the inmates. Now, as with the transportation industry, I’m sure that
electronic cards have come into use, replacing other forms of scrip. But the scrip currency of our penal
institutions makes an interesting and challenging field for collecting.

There were a number of at-risk youth and truant school institutions set up for delinquent or otherwise
wayward boys and girls. Those that were part of the State or Provincial Board of Corrections are included
in the general listing. However, there were private, non-official institutions, and we have listed these in a
separate section. One of the best known of these institutions is Boys Town founded in 1917 in Nebraska.
It issued tokens for its Student Bank in denominations from 5 (cents) to 5.00 (dollars). Another institution
was the George Junior Republic, first established in 1895 in Freeville, NY. Other similar “Junior Republic”
institutions followed, many issuing tokens and/or paper scrip. Many of the tokens issued by the George
Junior Republics had dates of issue, ranging from 1896 to1946.
iii
How to use this Catalog

Revised Cataloguing Approach for Official Prison Scrip

This catalog uses a new cataloging approach for prison scrip, identifying the state/province, facility, type
of scrip, series identifier, denomination or use, and subtype identifier as follows for governmental
authorized facilities:

State: Two-letter State/Province Identifier (e.g. AK = Alaska, AB = Alberta) (hyphen)
Facility: Three-letter Facility Identifier (e.g. TSF = Tucker State Farm) (hyphen)
Type of Scrip: One letter: B=Coupon Book/Card with detachable coupons, C=Coupon from a book/card,
K=Ticket sold or distributed individually (e.g. from a roll of tickets), P=Punch Card, T=Token, N=Note,
R=Receipt
Series: One letter to identify a group of a similar type of scrip (A through Z) (hyphen)
Denomination/Use: Three Characters: Denomination: 001 = one cent, 100 = $1, $10 = $10; or Use: LAU
= Laundry; SHW = Show; MLK = Milk; COK = Coke; COF = Coffee; GEN = Generic; HCT =
Haircut/Barber; etc.
Variety: One lower case letter to identify die/color/other variations within a type.

While this approach may seem cumbersome at first, I believe it provides the necessary flexibility to
properly catalog current and future prison money types.

Some examples:
1. Zara’s Catalog Numbers AR-50 to AR-54 for Arkansas’ Tucker State Farm have become:
AR-TSF-TA-005, AR-TSF-TA-010, AR-TSF-TA-025, AR-TSF-TA-050, AR-TSF-TA-100.
2. Zara’s Allegheny County Jail in Pennsylvania Scrip tickets PA-1 to PA-7 have become:
PA-ALL-CA-001, PA-ALL-CA-002, PA-ALL-CA-005, PA-ALL-CA-010, PA-ALL-CA-025, PA-ALL-CA-050,
PA-ALL-CA-100, and the books containing these tickets, which are not identified in Zara have
become: PA-ALL-BA-500, PA-ALL-BA-$10, PA-ALL-BA-$15, PA-ALL-BA-$20.
3. Zara’s New Hampshire punch card NH-1 has become NH-STP-PA-050.
4. Zara’s New York NY-20 and NY-21 have become NY-SNG-TA-025a and NY-SNG-TA-025b

Cataloguing Approach for Private Youth Facilities

The only difference between the cataloging of Official Facility and Private Youth Facility scrip is that the
three-letter facility identifier precedes the two-character state ID for Private Youth Facilities and they are
listed alphabetically by facility rather than state.

Pricing

The initial release of this catalog includes no pricing information. Once we have published, we will attempt
to provide some pricing guidance, probably in a range, similar to that used by Zara and others. Until then,
many of these pieces are offered on eBay, and recent pricing history can be viewed there.

Request for Help

Our catalog is built on the shoulders of those who have gone before. We have used Zara’s book, eBay
listings, tokencatalog.com, the Prison Tokens and Collectables Facebook page and our own collections to
compile this listing. But there are many items for which we have no image and we are sure that there are
many others that we are not even aware of. Also, any such listings are bound to have errors. Since this is
an electronic catalog, with your help, we will be able to update it periodically if you send your information
to [email protected].
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Table of Contents
PRISON TOKENS, COUPONS & SCRIP OF THE UNITED STATES AND CANADA ........................................................ I
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .........................................................................................................................................................I
FORWARD ....................................................................................................................................................................... II
HOW TO USE THIS CATALOG .............................................................................................................................................. III
UNITED STATES PRISON MONEY ....................................................................................................................... 1
ALABAMA ................................................................................................................................................................... 2
ALASKA ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5
ARIZONA ..................................................................................................................................................................... 8
ARKANSAS ................................................................................................................................................................ 12
CALIFORNIA .............................................................................................................................................................. 23
COLORADO ............................................................................................................................................................... 41
CONNECTICUT .......................................................................................................................................................... 51
DELAWARE ............................................................................................................................................................... 53
DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA ........................................................................................................................................... 55
FLORIDA .................................................................................................................................................................... 59
GEORGIA ................................................................................................................................................................... 63
HAWAII ..................................................................................................................................................................... 64
IDAHO ....................................................................................................................................................................... 65
ILLINOIS .................................................................................................................................................................... 68
INDIANA ................................................................................................................................................................... 74
IOWA ........................................................................................................................................................................ 75
KANSAS ..................................................................................................................................................................... 83
KENTUCKY ................................................................................................................................................................ 86
LOUISIANA ................................................................................................................................................................ 94
MAINE ...................................................................................................................................................................... 99
MARYLAND ............................................................................................................................................................. 105
MASSACHUSETTS ................................................................................................................................................... 106
MICHIGAN .............................................................................................................................................................. 109
MINNESOTA ........................................................................................................................................................... 145
MISSISSIPPI ............................................................................................................................................................. 149
MISSOURI ............................................................................................................................................................... 150
MONTANA .............................................................................................................................................................. 162
NEBRASKA .............................................................................................................................................................. 164
NEVADA .................................................................................................................................................................. 175
NEW HAMPSHIRE ................................................................................................................................................... 187
NEW JERSEY ............................................................................................................................................................ 190
NEW MEXICO .......................................................................................................................................................... 191
NEW YORK .............................................................................................................................................................. 194
NORTH CAROLINA .................................................................................................................................................. 202
NORTH DAKOTA ..................................................................................................................................................... 206
OHIO ....................................................................................................................................................................... 207
OKLAHOMA ............................................................................................................................................................ 213
OREGON ................................................................................................................................................................. 217
PENNSYLVANIA ....................................................................................................................................................... 219
RHODE ISLAND ....................................................................................................................................................... 230
SOUTH CAROLINA ................................................................................................................................................... 231
SOUTH DAKOTA ...................................................................................................................................................... 236
TENNESSEE ............................................................................................................................................................. 240
TEXAS ...................................................................................................................................................................... 245
v
UTAH ...................................................................................................................................................................... 266
VERMONT ............................................................................................................................................................... 271
VIRGINIA ................................................................................................................................................................. 276
WASHINGTON ........................................................................................................................................................ 283
WEST VIRGINIA ....................................................................................................................................................... 285
WISCONSIN............................................................................................................................................................. 287
WYOMING .............................................................................................................................................................. 294
CANADIAN PRISON MONEY .......................................................................................................................... 298
ALBERTA ................................................................................................................................................................. 299
MANITOBA ............................................................................................................................................................. 323
NEW BRUNSWICK ................................................................................................................................................... 326
PRINCE EDWARD ISLAND........................................................................................................................................ 333
SASKATCHEWAN .................................................................................................................................................... 335
PRIVATE YOUTH INSTITUTIONS ..................................................................................................................... 337
BOYS TOWN ............................................................................................................................................................... 338
CALIFORNIA GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC ........................................................................................................................... 341
CHILDREN’S REPUBLIC .................................................................................................................................................. 343
CHILDREN’S VILLAGE SEYBERT INSTITUTION ...................................................................................................................... 344
COLORADO GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC............................................................................................................................ 345
CONNECTICUT GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC ........................................................................................................................ 345
FORD REPUBLIC .......................................................................................................................................................... 347
GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC (NY) .................................................................................................................................... 349
GEORGE JUNIOR REPUBLIC (PA) .................................................................................................................................... 364
HANNA BOYS’ CENTER ................................................................................................................................................. 365
JOURNAL JUNIOR REPUBLIC ........................................................................................................................................... 368
NATIONAL JUNIOR REPUBLIC ......................................................................................................................................... 369
WILLIAM T. CARTER JUNIOR REPUBLIC ............................................................................................................................ 371
MISCELLANEOUS .......................................................................................................................................... 372
UNIDENTIFIED ........................................................................................................................................................ 373
MULTI-USE GENERICS ............................................................................................................................................. 375
MAVERICK TOKEN IDENTIFIER ................................................................................................................................ 376
1

United States Prison Money
2

ALABAMA

ATMORE PRISON FARM- ATMORE (Escambia County)
ATMORE PRISON FARM / 1 / CENT (denomination within a circle of 22 incuse dots)
OBV / — ALA. — (black print)
(blank except for a circle of 22 incuse dots)
REV

AL-ART-TA-001 Zara # AL-1 Note: Inscriptions were printed on the token rather than being incuse. The print wore off quickly and
many have little or no print left.
Plastic- red 40mm Round

ATMORE PRISON FARM / 5 / CENTS (denomination within a circle of 22 incuse
OBV dots) / — ALA. — (black print)
(blank except for a circle of 22 incuse dots)
REV

AL-ART-TA-005 Zara # AL-2 Note: Inscriptions were printed on the token rather than being incuse. The print wore off quickly and
many have little or no print left.
Plastic- blue 40mm Round

ATMORE PRISON FARM / 50 / CENTS (denomination within a circle of 22 incuse
OBV dots / — ALA. — (black print)
(blank except for a circle of 22 incuse dots)
REV

AL-ART-TA-050 Zara # AL-3 Note: Inscriptions were printed on the token rather than being incuse. The print wore off quickly and
many have little or no print left.
Plastic- yellow 40mm Round

BOARD OF CORRECTIONS- MONTGOMERY (Montgomery County)
(Board of Corrections?) / 1 / CENT (denomination within a circle of 22 incuse dots)
OBV (black print)
(blank except for a circle of 22 incuse dots)
REV

AL-BOC-TA-001 Zara # AL-10 Note: Inscriptions were printed on the token rather than being incuse. The print wore off quickly and
many have little or no print left.
Plastic- red 40mm Round

(Board of Corrections?) / 5¢ (denomination within a circle of 22 incuse dots) (white
OBV print)
(Alabama Great Seal) (within a circle of 22 incuse dots) (white print)
REV

AL-BOC-TA-005 Zara # AL-11 Note: Inscriptions were printed on the token rather than being incuse. The print wore off quickly and
many have little or no print left.
Plastic- blue 40mm Round
3
BOARD OF CORRECTIONS / 50 / CENTS (denomination within a circle of 22
OBV incuse dots) / — ALA. — (black print)
(blank except for a circle of 22 incuse dots)
REV

AL-BOC-TA-050 Zara # AL-12 Note: Inscriptions were printed on the token rather than being incuse. The print wore off quickly and
many have little or no print left.
Plastic- yellow 40mm Round

STATE OF ALABAMA / BOARD / OF / CORRECTIONS
OBV
GOOD FOR / 5¢ / IN TRADE
REV

AL-BOC-TB-005 Zara # AL-30 Note:
Brass 25mm Round

STATE OF ALABAMA / BOARD / OF / CORRECTIONS
OBV
GOOD FOR / 50¢ / IN TRADE
REV

AL-BOC-TB-050 Zara # AL-31 Note: Scan courtesy of token catalog: mntokenman
Brass 31mm Round

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND INSTITUTIONS- MONTGOMERY (Montgomery County)
DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS & INSTITUTIONS / 1 / CENT (denomination within a
OBV circle of 22 incuse dots?) (black print?)
(state seal) (within a circle of 22 incuse dots?) (black print?)
REV

AL-DCI-TA-001 Zara # AL-21 Note: No sample has been seen by the authors and so assumptions have been made
Plastic- red 40mm Round

DEPT. OF CORRECTIONS & INSTITUTIONS / 5 / CENTS (denomination within a
OBV circle of 22 incuse dots?) (black print?)
(state seal) (within a circle of 22 incuse dots?) (black print?)
REV

AL-DCI-TA-005 Zara # AL-22 Note: No sample has been seen by the authors and so assumptions have been made
Plastic- blue 40mm Round