Main Article Content
Abstract
This study aims to explore the financial management strategies employed by inmates involved in drug trafficking at Padang Class IIA Correctional Facility, focusing on how these individuals manage financial operations within a controlled and restrictive environment through organized, covert practices. Using an exploratory qualitative approach, the study involved in-depth interviews with five selected inmates who were directly involved in prison-based drug networks. Participants were chosen through purposive sampling based on criteria relevant to their involvement in narcotics-related business activities. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis supported by NVivo 12 Plus software to identify emerging financial patterns and strategies. The findings reveal that inmates maintain liquidity and conceal the origins of drug-related funds through various tactics, such as supporting legal employment as a cover and placing assets under third-party names. Entry into the drug business did not require personal financial capital; instead, trust and reputation served as key currencies within the network. These financial strategies closely resemble those used in legitimate business enterprises but are adapted to the prison context. This study contributes to the academic discourse on criminal entrepreneurship and suggests practical implications for enhancing financial surveillance and security protocols within correctional institutions. Future research should include broader samples and examine the role of external actors such as family members or prison staff.
Keywords
Article Details

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
References
- Agustina, D. (2013). Kunci Sukses Bandar Narkoba Kendalikan Bisnis dari Balik Penjara. TribunNews.
- Antonopoulos, G. A., & Hall, A. (2016). The Financial Management of the Illicit Tobacco Trade in the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Criminology, 56(4), 709–728. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv062
- Antonopoulos, G. A., Hall, A., Large, J., & Shen, A. (2020). Counterfeit goods fraud: an account of its financial management. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 26(3), 357–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-019-09414-6
- Arthur-Sam, J., Seddighi, H., & Osseo-Asare, A. E. (2024). Exploring Financial Management Practices and Firms’ Competitiveness: Evidence from Ghana Club 100 Firms. Exploring Financial Management Practices and Firm’s Competitiveness: Evidence from Ghana Club 100 Firms., 5(2), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.51137/ijarbm.2024.5.2.12
- Asiri, A. M. (2024). Corruption and Transnational Organized Crime in the Middle East and North Africa. St. Thomas University.
- Bardelli, T., Gillespie, Z., & Tu, T. L. (2023). Surviving austerity: Commissary stores, inequality and punishment in the contemporary American prison. Punishment & Society, 25(4), 955–976. https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221118345
- Bardelli, T., Gillespie, Z., & Tu, T. L. N. (2022). “You Need Money to Live in Prison” Everyday Strategies of Survival in the American Neoliberal Prison. South Atlantic Quarterly, 121(4), 838–845. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-10066524
- Bazsalya, B. (2020). Certain characteristics of financial management strategies of people living in extreme poverty. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:2006.03296. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2006.03296
- Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
- Brigham, E. F. (2016). Financial management: Theory and practice. Cengage Learning Canada Inc.
- Campedelli, G. M., Calderoni, F., Paolucci, M., Comunale, T., Vilone, D., Cecconi, F., & Andrighetto, G. (2021). A Policy-Oriented Agent-Based Model of Recruitment into Organized Crime BT - Advances in Social Simulation (P. Ahrweiler & M. Neumann (eds.); pp. 397–408). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61503-1_38
- Chopin, J., & and Dupont, B. (2025). Leaders and Leadership in Criminal Activities: A Scoping Review. Deviant Behavior, 46(5), 527–547. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2024.2357815
- Creswell, J. W., Lazuardi, A. L., & Qudsy, S. Z. (2015). Penelitian kualitatif & desain riset: memilih diantara lima pendekatan. Pustaka Pelajar.
- Décary-Hétu, D., & Giommoni, L. (2017). Do police crackdowns disrupt drug cryptomarkets? A longitudinal analysis of the effects of Operation Onymous. Crime, Law and Social Change, 67(1), 55–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-016-9644-4
- Dhali, M., Hassan, S., Mehar, S. M., Shahzad, K., & Zaman, F. (2023). Cryptocurrency in the Darknet: sustainability of the current national legislation. International Journal of Law and Management, 65(3), 261–282. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-09-2022-0206
- Engemann, K. J., & Henderson, D. M. (2014). Business continuity and risk management: essentials of organizational resilience. Rothstein Publishing.
- Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 80–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690600500107
- Fioroni, T., Lavezzi, A. M., & Trovato, G. (2025). Organized Crime, Corruption, and Economic Growth. Journal of Regional Science, 65(2), 535–560. https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12751
- Fronzetti Colladon, A., & Remondi, E. (2017). Using social network analysis to prevent money laundering. Expert Systems with Applications, 67, 49–58. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2016.09.029
- Gottschalk, P. (2013). Policing white-collar crime: Characteristics of white-collar criminals. CRC Press.
- Hall, A., & Antonopoulos, G. A. (2017). “Coke on Tick”: exploring the cocaine market in the UK through the lens of financial management. Journal of Financial Crime, 24(2), 181–199. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-07-2015-0037
- Heriyanto. (2018). Metodologi penelitian kualitatif untuk ilmu-ilmu sosial dan humaniora. Yogyakarta: Deepublish.
- Idris, M. M. (2024). Strategic Financial Management in Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Comprehensive Qualitative Review of Financial Practices and Their Impact on Startup Growth and Stability. Atestasi: Jurnal Ilmiah Akuntansi, 7(2), 742–761. https://doi.org/10.57178/atestasi.v7i2.878
- Karanović, B., Nikolić, G., & Karanović, G. (2019). Examining financial management practices in the context of smart ICT use: recent evidence from Croatian entrepreneurs. Zagreb International Review of Economics & Business, 22(SCI), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.2478/zireb-2019-0008
- Kenney, M. (2007). The Architecture of Drug Trafficking: Network Forms of Organisation in the Colombian Cocaine Trade. Global Crime, 8(3), 233–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/17440570701507794
- Kotzé, J., Kachynska, M., Kononets, V., Antonopoulos, G. A., Sanakoiev, D., & Morhunov, O. (2025). Marshalling the traffic: a preliminary exploration of the illegal firearms trade in Ukraine during martial law. Trends in Organized Crime. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-025-09563-7
- Kurshan, E., & Shen, H. (2020). Graph computing for financial crime and fraud detection: Trends, challenges and outlook. International Journal of Semantic Computing, 14(04), 565–589. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793351X20300022
- Larroulet, P., Daza, S., & Bórquez, I. (2023). From prison to work? Job-crime patterns for women in a precarious labor market. Social Science Research, 110, 102844. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102844
- Lumanauw, B., & Lolowang, I. R. A. (2024). Exploring Strategic Financial Management Techniques in Entrepreneurship: A Detailed Literature Review on Practices That Drive Business Sustainability and Growth. Atestasi: Jurnal Ilmiah Akuntansi, 7(2), 1111–1132. https://doi.org/10.57178/atestasi.v7i2.900
- McElwee, G., & Smith, R. (2015). Towards a Nuanced Typology of Illegal Entrepreneurship: A Theoretical and Conceptual Overview. In Exploring Criminal and Illegal Enterprise: New Perspectives on Research, Policy & Practice (Vol. 5, pp. 3–22). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-724620150000005018
- Moleong, L. J. (2007). Metodologi penelitian kualitatif edisi revisi.
- Paoli, L., & Vander Beken, T. (2014). 13Organized Crime: A Contested Concept. In L. Paoli (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime (p. 0). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199730445.013.019
- Permata, I. (2023). Insights into Effective Corporate Financial Management Practices and Their Implications. Advances in Management & Financial Reporting, 1(3 SE-Articles), 129–144. https://doi.org/10.60079/amfr.v1i3.194
- Rouhollahi, Z. (2021). Towards artificial intelligence enabled financial crime detection. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:2105.10866. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2105.10866
- Smith, R. (2009). Understanding entrepreneurial behaviour in organized criminals. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 3(3), 256–268. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506200910982019
- Sugiyono. (2018). Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif, dan R&D. Bandung: Alfabeta.
- Unger, B., & Van der Linde, D. (2013). Research handbook on money laundering. Edward Elgar Publishing.
- van Elteren, C., Vasconcelos, V. V, & Lees, M. (2024). Criminal organizations exhibit hysteresis, resilience, and robustness by balancing security and efficiency. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 17678. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.03720
- Yin, E. T., & and Kofie, N. (2021). The informal prison economy in Ghana: patterns, exchanges, and institutional contradictions. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 2004673. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2021.2004673
References
Agustina, D. (2013). Kunci Sukses Bandar Narkoba Kendalikan Bisnis dari Balik Penjara. TribunNews.
Antonopoulos, G. A., & Hall, A. (2016). The Financial Management of the Illicit Tobacco Trade in the United Kingdom. The British Journal of Criminology, 56(4), 709–728. https://doi.org/10.1093/bjc/azv062
Antonopoulos, G. A., Hall, A., Large, J., & Shen, A. (2020). Counterfeit goods fraud: an account of its financial management. European Journal on Criminal Policy and Research, 26(3), 357–378. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10610-019-09414-6
Arthur-Sam, J., Seddighi, H., & Osseo-Asare, A. E. (2024). Exploring Financial Management Practices and Firms’ Competitiveness: Evidence from Ghana Club 100 Firms. Exploring Financial Management Practices and Firm’s Competitiveness: Evidence from Ghana Club 100 Firms., 5(2), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.51137/ijarbm.2024.5.2.12
Asiri, A. M. (2024). Corruption and Transnational Organized Crime in the Middle East and North Africa. St. Thomas University.
Bardelli, T., Gillespie, Z., & Tu, T. L. (2023). Surviving austerity: Commissary stores, inequality and punishment in the contemporary American prison. Punishment & Society, 25(4), 955–976. https://doi.org/10.1177/14624745221118345
Bardelli, T., Gillespie, Z., & Tu, T. L. N. (2022). “You Need Money to Live in Prison” Everyday Strategies of Survival in the American Neoliberal Prison. South Atlantic Quarterly, 121(4), 838–845. https://doi.org/10.1215/00382876-10066524
Bazsalya, B. (2020). Certain characteristics of financial management strategies of people living in extreme poverty. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:2006.03296. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2006.03296
Braun, V., & Clarke, V. (2006). Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology, 3(2), 77–101. https://doi.org/10.1191/1478088706qp063oa
Brigham, E. F. (2016). Financial management: Theory and practice. Cengage Learning Canada Inc.
Campedelli, G. M., Calderoni, F., Paolucci, M., Comunale, T., Vilone, D., Cecconi, F., & Andrighetto, G. (2021). A Policy-Oriented Agent-Based Model of Recruitment into Organized Crime BT - Advances in Social Simulation (P. Ahrweiler & M. Neumann (eds.); pp. 397–408). Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-61503-1_38
Chopin, J., & and Dupont, B. (2025). Leaders and Leadership in Criminal Activities: A Scoping Review. Deviant Behavior, 46(5), 527–547. https://doi.org/10.1080/01639625.2024.2357815
Creswell, J. W., Lazuardi, A. L., & Qudsy, S. Z. (2015). Penelitian kualitatif & desain riset: memilih diantara lima pendekatan. Pustaka Pelajar.
Décary-Hétu, D., & Giommoni, L. (2017). Do police crackdowns disrupt drug cryptomarkets? A longitudinal analysis of the effects of Operation Onymous. Crime, Law and Social Change, 67(1), 55–75. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10611-016-9644-4
Dhali, M., Hassan, S., Mehar, S. M., Shahzad, K., & Zaman, F. (2023). Cryptocurrency in the Darknet: sustainability of the current national legislation. International Journal of Law and Management, 65(3), 261–282. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLMA-09-2022-0206
Engemann, K. J., & Henderson, D. M. (2014). Business continuity and risk management: essentials of organizational resilience. Rothstein Publishing.
Fereday, J., & Muir-Cochrane, E. (2006). Demonstrating rigor using thematic analysis: A hybrid approach of inductive and deductive coding and theme development. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 80–92. https://doi.org/10.1177/160940690600500107
Fioroni, T., Lavezzi, A. M., & Trovato, G. (2025). Organized Crime, Corruption, and Economic Growth. Journal of Regional Science, 65(2), 535–560. https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12751
Fronzetti Colladon, A., & Remondi, E. (2017). Using social network analysis to prevent money laundering. Expert Systems with Applications, 67, 49–58. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eswa.2016.09.029
Gottschalk, P. (2013). Policing white-collar crime: Characteristics of white-collar criminals. CRC Press.
Hall, A., & Antonopoulos, G. A. (2017). “Coke on Tick”: exploring the cocaine market in the UK through the lens of financial management. Journal of Financial Crime, 24(2), 181–199. https://doi.org/10.1108/JFC-07-2015-0037
Heriyanto. (2018). Metodologi penelitian kualitatif untuk ilmu-ilmu sosial dan humaniora. Yogyakarta: Deepublish.
Idris, M. M. (2024). Strategic Financial Management in Entrepreneurial Ventures: A Comprehensive Qualitative Review of Financial Practices and Their Impact on Startup Growth and Stability. Atestasi: Jurnal Ilmiah Akuntansi, 7(2), 742–761. https://doi.org/10.57178/atestasi.v7i2.878
Karanović, B., Nikolić, G., & Karanović, G. (2019). Examining financial management practices in the context of smart ICT use: recent evidence from Croatian entrepreneurs. Zagreb International Review of Economics & Business, 22(SCI), 107–123. https://doi.org/10.2478/zireb-2019-0008
Kenney, M. (2007). The Architecture of Drug Trafficking: Network Forms of Organisation in the Colombian Cocaine Trade. Global Crime, 8(3), 233–259. https://doi.org/10.1080/17440570701507794
Kotzé, J., Kachynska, M., Kononets, V., Antonopoulos, G. A., Sanakoiev, D., & Morhunov, O. (2025). Marshalling the traffic: a preliminary exploration of the illegal firearms trade in Ukraine during martial law. Trends in Organized Crime. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12117-025-09563-7
Kurshan, E., & Shen, H. (2020). Graph computing for financial crime and fraud detection: Trends, challenges and outlook. International Journal of Semantic Computing, 14(04), 565–589. https://doi.org/10.1142/S1793351X20300022
Larroulet, P., Daza, S., & Bórquez, I. (2023). From prison to work? Job-crime patterns for women in a precarious labor market. Social Science Research, 110, 102844. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ssresearch.2022.102844
Lumanauw, B., & Lolowang, I. R. A. (2024). Exploring Strategic Financial Management Techniques in Entrepreneurship: A Detailed Literature Review on Practices That Drive Business Sustainability and Growth. Atestasi: Jurnal Ilmiah Akuntansi, 7(2), 1111–1132. https://doi.org/10.57178/atestasi.v7i2.900
McElwee, G., & Smith, R. (2015). Towards a Nuanced Typology of Illegal Entrepreneurship: A Theoretical and Conceptual Overview. In Exploring Criminal and Illegal Enterprise: New Perspectives on Research, Policy & Practice (Vol. 5, pp. 3–22). Emerald Group Publishing Limited. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-724620150000005018
Moleong, L. J. (2007). Metodologi penelitian kualitatif edisi revisi.
Paoli, L., & Vander Beken, T. (2014). 13Organized Crime: A Contested Concept. In L. Paoli (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Organized Crime (p. 0). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199730445.013.019
Permata, I. (2023). Insights into Effective Corporate Financial Management Practices and Their Implications. Advances in Management & Financial Reporting, 1(3 SE-Articles), 129–144. https://doi.org/10.60079/amfr.v1i3.194
Rouhollahi, Z. (2021). Towards artificial intelligence enabled financial crime detection. ArXiv Preprint ArXiv:2105.10866. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2105.10866
Smith, R. (2009). Understanding entrepreneurial behaviour in organized criminals. Journal of Enterprising Communities: People and Places in the Global Economy, 3(3), 256–268. https://doi.org/10.1108/17506200910982019
Sugiyono. (2018). Metode Penelitian Kuantitatif, Kualitatif, dan R&D. Bandung: Alfabeta.
Unger, B., & Van der Linde, D. (2013). Research handbook on money laundering. Edward Elgar Publishing.
van Elteren, C., Vasconcelos, V. V, & Lees, M. (2024). Criminal organizations exhibit hysteresis, resilience, and robustness by balancing security and efficiency. Scientific Reports, 14(1), 17678. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2403.03720
Yin, E. T., & and Kofie, N. (2021). The informal prison economy in Ghana: patterns, exchanges, and institutional contradictions. Cogent Social Sciences, 7(1), 2004673. https://doi.org/10.1080/23311886.2021.2004673