In many prisons they let/make the more handle-able inmates do work for pocket change. Run the laundry, run the cafeteria, clean up. Sometimes they let the educated ones do more cushy jobs like run the library or help out the medical staff. Of course any warden who has seen shawshank redemption won't let a prisoner anywhere near his tax returns though. hehe

I assumed the guy who served the goop was an inmate. Am I right on this?