In the book "Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal," author Mary Roach highlights the surprising methods used to smuggle contraband into California state prisons. When prisoners cannot carry their cigarettes and cell phones in their pants pockets, some resort to using their rectums as a secretive alternative for transporting these items. This practice has become so common that it involves the smuggling of over a thousand pounds of tobacco and numerous cell phones each year.

This smuggling not only provides incarcerated individuals with a way to indulge in smoking but also enables them, particularly gang members and narcotics dealers, to maintain their criminal enterprises through business calls even while behind bars. Roach's exploration sheds light on the lengths to which prisoners will go to maintain their lifestyles and connections, using their bodies as means for illicit activity.