Shame on you, Keefe Group.
This blog post is a lot pointier than my average fare. It discusses pricing behind the wires, and the concept of illicitly taxing those of us who are incarcerated, as well as those who love us.
Hi, readers.
I am casting sins today. The subject of my sin casting is Keefe Group, the organization which has provided commissary services across the entire Florida Department of Corrections institutional system.
You see, Keefe has a captive audience in the form of we incarcerated many and our loved ones beyond the wire and fences. If we want or need anything beyond what is provided, Keefe is there with their hand out, collecting cash from our 'prison debit cards' (the ID card we're required to wear here).
Need batteries for a foil shaver? Keefe guts you for nearly $4 for a pair of Panasonic AA batteries. Twice a month, I get to pay that price.
Need Magic Shave so that you can maintain a clean-shaven appearance? With tax, that's about $6 for a tube; I use one about every 6-8 weeks.
Still hungry after your meal tray that was obviously short on food?
Are you hungry enough for a $3 single serving bag of refried beans? Keefe hopes so!
Now, I'm just a hotseat investigator here; it's not my job. My job here is to wear blue, do no crime, and survive as a non-binary in a men's prison in what is considered the worst state in America to be imprisoned in.
But, what I can tell you is that we have had two price rises this year, and something has got to give.
Keefe hopes it's you, free worlders, giving to your incarcerated friends and loved ones, $50 here, $100 there, is that a $1,000 roll in your pocket, or are you just glad to see us? kinds of giving.
We inmates received this letter on 05 September 2023; I'm injecting my thoughts at relevant points.
Inmate Canteen Service Update
The Florida Department of Corrections is pleased to announce that on August 1, 2023, we began a partnership with Keefe Commissary Network LLC (KCN) to provide new and enhanced commissary services. These services and programs will be transitioned in over the upcoming months. Keefe Commissary Network will offer supplemental programs for the inmate population, using a new, hybrid delivery model. The programs include:
Inmate-facing canteen storefronts, with a new menu. The menu includes a variety of new items that provide a greater selection.
Not really? We're losing items here, actually. All of the Moon Lodge brand is leaving.
A quarterly inmate package program for property items. NEW, monthly inmate ordering. Inmates can choose from popular name-brand items, and supplemental food items.
NEW recreation-yard pavilions with vending machines. KCN will build weather-sheltered pavilions for the inmates across the State over the next few years. These will also include vending machines stocked with popular products.
NEW, expanded vending in visitor parks. Inmates and their visitors can choose items from a robust new menu, including fresh food.
A NEW friends and family package program. Friends and family can order popular, name-brand items that get delivered directly to incarcerated loved ones.
KCN is also offering its Advanced Skills, Career Education and New Development (ASCEND) program, which provides vocational, leadership and managerial training that teaches real-world, in-demand skills and prepares participants for post-release employment. The program covers five areas:
Fundamental Excellence, including but not limited to: Inmate Handbook and Food Safety Handbook Product Handlers Certification Operational Excellence Hands on training: Tell, Show, Do, and Review methodology. Leadership Peer Tutor and Peer Fellow (Train-the-Trainer) Practical Job Applications and Interviewing Applied Excellence Training and Certifications On-line Resources One-stop shop of resources for job search, living assistance, etc.
We are excited about these programs. While we were able to limit menu price increases during contract negotiations over the last two years, the nation has experienced record inflation over the same time. The prices in the new commissary menu are the result of negotiation, the level of inflation and a commitment to provide inmates and their friends and family a variety of products at fair prices.
- $2.80 for a 4 oz. sleeve of saltines is 'fair'.
- $3.00 for a single serving of refried beans is 'fair'.
- $1.87 for a single serve generic version of Little Debbie's Nutty Buddy Bar is 'fair'. Your perception of fair may vary.
We engaged an independent, third-party to establish Fair Market Value pricing, to ensure that prices offered to the population resemble the pricing typically found in retail locations selling similar single serve items.
Oh!! I get it!! Price shopping at a gas station right off the interstate for brands like Market Square Bakery, Cactus Annie's, and Velveeta, finding matches for only one brand, using analogous pricing by comparing similar items, then jacking the price up 50% or more is your definition of fair! Did your independent shopper shop in Florida or Alaska, by the way?
We look forward to rolling out this expanded and improved commissary program, designed to bring greater selection, convenience, and satisfaction to FDC inmates and their loved ones.
You complete, utter fools. You are bringing NONE OF THESE THINGS. You bring your pan, handle attached, holding it out on a nearly impassible corner, and bum rush people into dropping their dollars in. Wear your shame publicly, for it is the accumulated result of the negative karma you are harvesting.
Of interest, I read August's News Inside, a publication by The Marshall Project, which highlighted the state of the contract between KCN and FLDOC; at that time, they were only allowed one 10% max price increase per item per year. We had that increase in August, across the board.
On 13 October, they racked another increase on staple items, and it's downright abusive.
It's bad, folks.
I'm friends with an octogenarian here. He tells me a few days after the last price hike, "Son, I done spent $14 on some damn saltines!" He had other choice words which I will omit, but it shook a man of faith hard enough to make him verbally veer away from his normal way of speech.
I saw his receipt as he thrust it into my hands.
Saltines, $2.80, × 5 packs. $14.00.
The week prior, those same 4 oz. sleeves of saltines were less than half that price, at $1.17, but conveniently out of stock like nearly every other staple food item.
Another inmate shared his receipt with me, showing a staple food item purchase here: packs of Ramen noodles.
Maruchan Ramen, $1.06, × 7 packs. $7.42.
That's up from 78¢ the week prior, and 71¢ through July of this year.
Two price hikes. Yikes.
What wasn't selling?
A specific, kosher brand of ramen noodles, Ramen Express, already priced at an exorbitant $1.50-range tag then.
I haven't directly priced them since our price hike for a few reasons (namely, I don't really enjoy instant ramen without vegetables on hand, no vegetarian/pescatarian friendly flavors are available, and new price lists aren't being provided), but I can say for certain that they're already priced too richly for we incarcerated many who aren't paid financially for any of the work we do on our compounds, relying on the kindness of those outside to afford toiletries and additional food to compensate for the calorie-poor trays and poor quality hygiene items provided.
Was it revenge?
I would not hesitate to say yes. We peacefully protested the pricing changes, and in turn, they wound the thumbscrews down tighter with a second price increase in under 90 days. This second price increase inside of one year was something not allowed in their old contract, but I don't have access to the new contract for review. After all, I wear blue.
The worry of the future-present.
As someone living behind the concertina wire, I am aware of how prisoners live day to day; after all, I am one, myself.
As food options become leaner due to significant overpricing, the mood of the compound is going to shift negatively. I sadly anticipate violence will become the answer throughout the state, with those less capable of defending themselves getting screwed over by the greedier inmates, creating a strata of haves and have nots once more.
Those of us fortunate enough to have folks outside who can place the quarterly orders will be reliant on those packages every 3 months, so long as the outside pricing doesn't also increase.
To wit, it is only $1.75 for a sleeve of saltines on (KCN, doing business as) Access Corrections' private facility ordering site for Florida prisons, and a box of them can be ordered for just $5.15.
But again, we are paying $2.80 a sleeve inside for the saltines.
I asked of my people to compare some prices on the site with prices I would pay for the same items here at my facility.
By and large, their pricing is better for things, even with the $8 processing fee factored in. As they buy more, the pricing simply becomes less offensive.
Go back to that strata comment, J?
Sure!
When I arrived to prison in December 2022, they were in the midst of rolling out brand new tablets that did not require inmates to purchase the hardware. Prior to that, someone had to make a $79+ purchase to receive a tablet. That created a notable strata of haves and have nots -- that guy over there thinks he's fancy with his tablet types of talk.
Prison hustles are a thing, too. Maybe someone will let you use their tablet for an hour or two, if you can get them a pack of ramen or a bag of chips, or something to that effect.
This created a gray market -- nothing nefarious was implicated, but gee, that guy buys a LOT of ramen yet is as thin as a straw. The other guy owes us $85 in medical charges, weighs 400 pounds, so doesn't buy commissary. Hmmm...
Where there's gray, there's black, however; I will let you imagine what you will about people and clandestine swaps of food for services.
What this all amounts to.
In the end, folks, these prices are tantamount to an illicit tax on individuals like me behind the fences, and on those of you in the free world, who help us inside stay alive by giving us extra funds to eat, stay clean, and stay peacefully entertained in a place that warehouses humans like walking slabs of meat.
Thus shall I lay bare the sin, exposing it to the light.
It is my fervent hope that as you read this, you take up the shield and go to defend us. Even if it isn't for me, do it for someone's loved one who might be suffering and think they have no voice.
Unite as a species, and insist on better, friends.
Until the next one, folks, take care and thank you for your time.
- J!