Rapper Prodigy's Prison Cookbook Banned in California Jails

Prodigy's jailhouse cookbook is bombing with California prison officials who seem to think it's a bad idea to teach inmates how to make hooch.

The Mobb Deep rapper's "Commissary Kitchen: My Infamous Prison Cookbook" was recently banned by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. Officials fired off a letter to Prodigy, explaining prison wine doesn't fly.

As they said in the letter, obtained by TMZ ... "inmate manufactured alcohol" is a major no-no.

Prodigy might have suspected this could be an issue. We had him on "TMZ Live" and he told us about some of his favorite recipes. He never mentioned the booze.

The only problem with this ban? Plenty of Cali inmates are already boned up on home brews ... or so we hear.