On July 1, 2004, the 4 inmates from the California state prison in Riverside County were hospitalized with signs and symptoms consistent with clinical botulism, including blurry vision, dysarthria, dysphagia, shortness of breath, and generalized muscle weakness. In both instances, pruno (also known as prison wine, jailhouse hooch, juice, or brew) was found to be the cause of foodborne botulism in these patients. In May 2005, DCDC and the Monterey County Health Agency investigated suspected botulism in another male inmate from another California state prison. In July 2004, the Riverside County Department of Public Health and the Division of Communicable Disease Control (DCDC), California Department of Health Services (CDHS) investigated 4 suspected cases of botulism, all in male inmates from a California state prison in Riverside County. Botulism antitoxin can stop progression of paralysis if given early in the course of illness. Symptoms start as cranial nerve palsies and are followed by a symmetric descending flaccid paralysis that can lead to respiratory failure and death if respiratory support is not provided ( 2). Symptom onset generally occurs 12–36 hours after ingestion of contaminated food. Of the 7 botulinum toxin types (A–G), types A, B, and E are associated with most human cases. In California, wound botulism caused by injection drug use has increased since 1994 ( 1). In each of these latter categories, illness results from in situ production of botulinum toxin. botulinum and wound botulism caused by wound contamination with C. The other 2 main categories of botulism are infant botulism caused by intestinal colonization with C. Foodborne botulism is a rare paralytic disease caused by ingestion of preformed botulinum toxin in food contaminated with Clostridium botulinum, an anaerobic, spore-forming bacterium that is ubiquitous in the environment.