Prison Food Episodes

Thanksgiving in prison is a plate full of mixed emotions. On one hand, there's excitement with the special holiday meal (often including real turkey, cranberry sauce, and pumpkin pie). It's a time for cellmates and friends to get together and create something unique and delcious, like Jovan Stewart's Famous Banana Pudding, Rachell House's Enchilada Bowls, or Angelina Omara's Vanilla Pancakes. But the Holiday also serves as a painful reminder of what these individuals don't have -- the chance to ...

In the early morning hours of May 1, 2019, Paris Siripavaket (also known as Sirii) was involved in a traffic accident that would send her to prison for six years. Paris, a self-proclaimed "suburban cat mom," had worked a professional job in sales and had no clue what to do when she first walked into her Ohio prison. She wasn't even sure the proper way to make her prison bed. Paris had to figure it out, and fast! Since 2021, she's been busy with myriad artistic and writing projects. But when we heard about her newest accomplishment, a prison cookbook that she just released last month, we knew we had to interview her for the Prison Pen Pal Podcast.This "prison cookbook" is so much more. In addition to over 50 mouth-watering recipes (using prison commissary items) for things like Tortilla Soup, Pad Thai, Lasagna Rolls, and even Tiramisu, Microwave Manifesto is packed with short philosophical essays, writing prompts, and even advice for how to properly close a potato chip bag in prison (s…

This holiday season, we celebrate myriad lifelong friendships and relationships which we have helped facilitate between incarcerated individuals and their free-world pen pals. In 2024 alone, PenPals.Buzz helped generate hundreds of long-term friendships and relationships, several engagements, and at least three marriages! On this final episode of the year, we interview Patrick and Melissa Cloud, who met right here on PenPals.Buzz. Learn about their journey and discover how a nurse from South Dakota found happiness with a prison inmate in Washington state. We wish them all the best for 2025 and beyond.Later in the episode, we talk with PenPals.Buzz member Zachary (Zac) Lopez. Zac, a 24-year-old Christian incarcerated in Idaho, shares with us what Christmas is like in prison. Learn about how the holiday affects prisoners' emotions in both good and bad ways. Hear what kind of special meal awaits them in the chow hall. And learn about holidays in Zac's unit bring people together around …