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Fairness in Accusations: Commissary and Collusive Gouging

This is me, dogpiling!

You see, the folks over at The Appeal wrote an article focusing on how much prison commissary prices negatively affect a captive population and their loved ones, who oft bear the brunt of those costs.

It is to my understanding that this article includes a link to a tool or database that shows pricing in 46 states. Oh, I wish I could see it right now! I only know of it as my circle of care brought it to my attention, and now I shout it back into the aether.

I can only wonder if their pricing list for Florida shows both the state run facilities and the privately run facilities, whose prices I would dare say are higher.

Their data set for us may be slight adrift, as I'm in a private camp in Northwest Florida (Region 1); we had a price shift in October 2024.
To wit, there were a few significant changes:

  • Maruchan Ramen, a staple of prison diets, is $1.17 per pack.
  • Saltines, a food item whose price I have frequently maligned have dropped! They're $1.98 for a ~113 g (4 oz) sleeve_, not $2.80 now.
  • A 355ml (12 fl. oz.) can of Coca-Cola is $1.37, plus 7.5% sales tax, a total of $1.47. Our facility does not receive Day's Sodas like the rest of FL DOC.

Nevertheless! I applaud their significant efforts to expose the truths to help you all see inside one of the hidden human exploitation machines in America, whose operations are blessed by the states!

Reading that article, I saw where one person was spending $1,000 a month to help their loved one survive prison, and found it financially straining. Financially, my cohort, my sphere of care do not spend anything approaching that: $12,000 yearly is a hell of a lot of cash to spend in prison, and even if they could afford that, I'm still too Outside-minded to let them spend that on feeding the maw.

Is financing a prisoner a strain on anyone? Absolutely.
Again, my expenses and I represent money that could be used to pay existing personal debts or finance retirement for those who help, which I fret over. I still am ever grateful for my received support, and feel deeply for those who receive absolutely nothing to help on their books, but the mental strain of being unable to support myself as we have a distressing few paying prison jobs in high stress, high violence risk positions is taxing.

On my private compound, the only jobs that pay are the ones working for the canteen operations here. The maximum monthly pay per Florida's Administrative Code, Chapter 33, is $75.00.

Teacher Assistants in Education and Vocation Classrooms make $0.00 for helping to run the classroom, keep things orderly, aid the instructor with tasks related to class logistics, etc.

The guy who performs janitorial work on the walk (that is the sidewalk areas not assigned to a specific dorm), scrubbing walkways clean (this includes biohazards like blood and other, ahem, efflux) and scrubbing the open prisoner urinals and toilets (including the messes coming from, ugh, near hits on the toilet)? $0.00.

The gentlemen orderlies who help to run the rec yard, handling tasks like equipment checkout, music therapy on the yard, running sports games like handegg and ball in hoop, leading exercise groups, etc? Their pay is $working.out. I mean $0.00.

This is a story that repeats across Florida's prisons, and it's scary. We have to rely on external money for basics or needs, such as antiperspirants/deodorants, foot powder, cough drops, ibuprofen, batteries for radios, and "food" beyond Trinity Service Group's offerings.

Inference, to the tune of mistakes...

Yes, "mistakes" is the right term. I'm painting a picture here:

You see,

  • Trinity handles food poorly here at Blessington with a combination of inappropriately small portions, spoiled food that makes people ill, and Eighth Amendment violations almost daily as they make it inordinately difficult for people who have religious dietary needs to meet these.
  • Keefe Commissary Group handles canteen at abusive pricing here and throughout the state, with our private camp being dragged harder than state camps.
  • Both Trinity and Keefe are holdings of HiG Capital.

I stand back a moment, stylus in hand to look at the canvas...
Does anyone else see this picture the way I do?
You see, these strokes over here,

Trinity handles food services poorly with undersized portions, inaccurate meals, and spoiled food to come in well under budget.

... when layered with these strokes like this,

Keefe raises prices yearly on gas station pick-me-ups, offering very little in the way of healthy choices, and then gouges sideways on health aids to boost profits.

The interpretation I was rendering with my strokes is meant to be like this!:

Trinity profits from poor food handling skills that would shut down a restaurant in the free world for safety and health violations; they make money from inflicting suffering.
Keefe profiteers from abusive pricing where we justice impacted individuals have no option but to spend with them; we are LITERALLY a captive audience paying 300% to 500% markups for things we need, and are being driven to them in part by poor food hygiene by Trinity and poor responses from Medical.

That's a spicy plant-based 'meat'ball, isn't it?

Now, in Florida, there is no good news, as of yet. Again, we pay 300-500% markup on staple items.
In other states, people are hearing the news, seeing the data, and tackling the issue. You have limits on pricing going into play, capping the markup to more reasonable numbers.

As a People, What Do We Do?

Party people, MAKE SOME NOOOOOOOOISE!

Really. Speak up about this price gouging behind the wires. Talk about it on social media. Talk to your state's governing and controlling agencies, and to their Departments of Corrections, to anyone who will listen.
Speak to them, asking why those of us behind these fences and concertina wires are being exploited financially, why the people who care for them on the outside are having their wallets and bank accounts strip-mined by companies like Keefe, and why aren't actions to limit or halt this exploitation already being taken.
In states where citizens can petition things to put them on a ballot (ahem, FLORIDA), write a petition to insist on a restriction placed on how much pricing can be inflated and get signatures! Insist that the price comparisons must be made against retail stores, not gas stations.

Don't believe the tale of "we're selling to a limited audience and do not get the benefits of buying in bulk that a grocery store gets."
As a current member of that limited audience, I have the observation capacity to see men on a daily basis as they overpay grossly for 24-48 packs of Maruchan at a time, because for some, it's the only way they get fed.

I am wishing I were joking about this even as I write, but watching a man come back with a canteen or laundry bag packed full of noodles every week is some kind of special.

If I could take a photo of this unevenly shaped room right now to show you just how barren it is as it was stripped of everything edible due to year end inventory, you would question the sanity of everything involved. The ebb and flow of content in that room shows copious sales, significant amounts of income made by Keefe.

Let's consider there are ~396 people in the dorm. Those of them who can afford it shop at a clone of a tiny gas station mart; those who cannot live off the land, doing work for another man in exchange for essentials like deodorant, lotion, foot powder, or food. Repeat this picture three more times, and add another 300 to get a general idea of how many people are really at this camp -- You should have a number close to 1900.

We are one small town.

Consider further that Keefe is the commissary supplier for all state prisons in Florida, and in several states, as well as numerous county jails nationwide. There is absolutely no logical way that Keefe is not getting a bulk purchasing benefit, even with the (largely pointless) special clear plastic packaging of some of the items we buy.

Let's ask why the punishments get worse as HiG Capital gets richer on perpetuating human suffering, shall we?

Sidechannel: Wishes.

In the midst of this, I had some fervent wishes that begged to be known. They would be perhaps out of place in the middle of my post, but not strong enough to stand alone. As so, here are my wishes:

I would love to petition to bring back externally purchased care packages: this benefits the families who are price conscious, and can bring in a little of the outside world to this world we live in.

When people can make a quick whip 'round a Dollar Tree, buy a pack of Jot or inc. brand black ink pens, lined and unlined paper, mailing envelopes, clear bags of popcorn, dried fruits and nuts, the occasional snack cake, and send that all for a fraction of what is paid now, it benefits our loved ones beyond the wires as much as it helps us inside the wire.

If 'security' is truly a concern for packages, then have a regional receiving hub that families and friends may send these packages for inspection before introduction at their final destination.

I would also love to introduce dehydrated or dried fruits and vegetables to prison commissaries. The vegetables give people here a healthier addition to the prison staple (ramen noodle soup), compared to watching someone carefully chop up a beef summer sausage with their ID card and add three soy sauces and a squeeze cheese packet to add a flavor. Fruits give us things to snack on aside from yet another honey bun or bag of chips.
Dehydrate some carrot chips with a few different spices on them -- here's a healthy snack by itself!

Pay us for the work we do!
Florida is a state with too few paid prison jobs. How do you expect people to develop a positive work ethic when you're teaching a lesson of worthlessness, no matter how much work we do?
You're creating a case of stratification, which creates strife when your system should be creating positive unity.

But what do I know about treating humans with compassion, care, and lovingkindness? I'm just an enby wearing blue. :')