Akseli Virratvuori’s scientific contributions

The use of cannabis, narcotics, and other intoxicants is widespread within North American prisons, where do-it-yourself instruments are fashioned, used, traded, discarded, and/or confiscated. This cycle contributes to the long-term record of mate- rial culture and provides an opportunity to study innovations employed by incarcerated persons. An assemblage of improvised devices for consuming illicit drugs (pipes, syringe, and decoys) from Her Majesty’s Penitentiary (HMP) in St. John’s, Newfoundland and Lab- rador, provides an opportunity to explore the culture of twentieth-century drug consump- tion at an exceptionally long-lived penal insti- tution. The collection of drug paraphernalia dates between 1971 and 1983 and represents a palimpsest of curated items confiscated by correctional officers. By drawing upon actor- network theory and a folkloric approach to the material assemblage, we situate this local assemblage within the larger carceral context wherein individuals “make do.” These objects speak to longstanding and widely shared technological traditions, an accomplished do- it-yourself ethic amongst those incarcerated, and the complex entanglement of criminality, carceral practices, and drug use.