Mississippi, companies profit off inmates, families

Charging more than four times the retail price for everything from shampoo to snacks is perfectly legal behind Mississippi prison walls.

“I’m all for punishment; however, that’s punishing the families,” said Oxford lawyer Christi McCoy, who represents some of these families.

Over the past three years, private companies have taken in more than $32 million from inmates and their families from commissary sales and telephone calls, the state pocketing nearly a fourth of that.

Corrections Commissioner Marshall Fisher said some commissary items now cost more, but "the vast majority of the more than 300 commissary items sold at our prisons, especially the popular ones, have gone down substantially from previous prices."

For example, he said, ramen noodles, which had cost 59 cents, are now 50 cents. Eyeglasses, which had cost $10.59, are now 44 cents. A stamped card, which had cost $2.75, is now $1.75.

"MDOC is keenly aware of the cost of items to inmates and their families and is committed to getting prices even lower, if possible, in the future," he said. "Nevertheless, there is a cost to package and deliver items, unlike walking directly into a grocery store. Plus, there are some items that are costly for security reasons."

Inmates are barred from receiving food, snacks, televisions and similar items from their families. Instead, they must purchase these items through the commissary inside each prison.

Over the past three years, Lisa Moore of Madison said she has spent $12,000 for commissary items for her son, who's serving 50 years at the East Mississippi Correctional Facility for burglary. “I work an extra job, just to take care of it.”

She and her husband visit their son every other week, where they buy food and drinks from vending machines.

“We’re not rich,” she said. “We work hard, but I see so many people who don’t have anything to take to their loved ones.”

The Clarion-Ledger found the prices of many cereals, snacks, batteries and soap were more than four times higher than that of discount stores in the Jackson area. Pens and over-the-counter medicines were even higher.

For instance, a 20-ounce box of store-brand Cinnamon Toast Crunch costs $1.67 at a discount store. Inside Mississippi prisons, the cost is nearly five times higher — $4.80 fora box with 8 fewer ounces.

Even religion doesn’t come cheap.

A copy of the Quran can be ordered on Amazon for less than $13, including shipping. Inside, that cost is $58.95. (Until recent months, the cost had been $26.)

Jody Owens II, director of the Mississippi office of the Southern Poverty Law Center, called such an increase despicable.

“This is ridiculous,” he said. “One of the fundamental rights in this country is freedom of religion.”

Inmates and their families are unable to order Bibles from the commissary, but corrections officials say faith groups are providing them free of charge to any inmate who desires one.

Asked if there is a limit on prices charged, Grace Fisher, a spokeswoman for the Mississippi Department of Corrections, replied that prices for all commissary items were bid and that “MDOC picks the lowest bid prices.”

Margaret Winter, associate director of the ACLU National Prison Project, said many prisoners rely on the commissary to survive. “They’re hungry and don’t get adequate food.”

Medical experts hired by the ACLU documented widespread weight loss on average of 20 pounds or more by inmates at East Mississippi Correctional Facility.

MDOC provides inmates with a minimum amount of soap, combs, toothbrushes, toothpaste, toilet paper, tampons and similar hygiene items. They are allowed to purchase additional products from the commissary.

Cindy Kelly of Austin, Texas, whose friend is housed at the Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, said since Premier took over for Keefe Commissary earlier this year, prices have risen. “They were already high.”

In some cases, prices doubled or tripled.

Under Keefe, inmates could purchase a bag of 30 cough drops for $1.25 (4.1 cents per cough drop). Under Premier, inmates must pay $1.13 for nine cough drops (12.5 cents per cough drop).

There have been some price declines, and Premier is also selling a few items that weren’t available before, such as a checker set for $5.99 and $8.50 for a chess set.

Many feel no sympathy for prisoners when it comes to prices because they feel they must “pay the price,” Kelly said.

“Yes, they’re in prison, but their families aren’t,” she said. “The families are the ones this burden falls on.”

For many families, “the main breadwinner is locked up,” she said.

Dawn Manix, whose husband is serving life in the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, called the prices “outrageous,” saying they put “a terrible strain on families.”

The recent rise in commissary prices has made “an already bad situation even harder,” she said. “I see less and less families there every time I go. So truly sad.”

With each deposit to an inmate’s commissary account, $7 is automatically deducted.

The Corrections Department has no figures on how much private companies have made over the past three years from these charges, but the department received $221,000 from just these charges.

Corrections officials say they receive $1 from each transfer. Assuming companies made $6 on each transfer, they made $1.3 million during that same period.

Telephone calls from inside prisons have become so exorbitant — as high as $14 per minute — that the FCC has cracked down with a plan being phased in that would reduce costs over the next two years.

Manix works full time as a private investigator and can’t afford the phone calls.

“Two calls eat up $25 like it’s nothing,” she said. “Just a few calls a month can be upwards of $150 to $200 a month.”

Moore said if she deposits $25 for a telephone call from her son, there is a $6.95 charge, followed by a $3 “connection charge.”

She said that leaves only $15.05 for the call — not even enough to talk for an hour.

If their call gets accidentally cut off, she gets charged another $3 to reconnect, she said. “It’s outrageous.”

Owens called these inflated prices “an attack on the less fortunate and poor.”

Society desires that these individuals “pay their debt to society locked in a cage, but how is that debt further satisfied by a system that overcharges individuals who have no capacity to work?” he asked. “That burden is shifted to their families and loved ones who already are suffering from the absence of that individuals’ ability to provide income to the home.”

He said the loser in this game is Mississippi “because whatever happens to the least of us affects all of us.”

McCoy said the high price of telephone calls isolates those behind bars.

She represented a mother sent to prison. “She wasn’t a criminal,” she said. “She was a drug addict.”

The high price of telephone calls made it almost impossible to stay connected with her family, she said. “The husband needed for their two children to maintain some kind of relationship.”

Such relationships improve behavior, she said. “One of the few things that helps to keep them human is contact with family.”

The millions that MDOC collects from commissary sales, telephone calls and money transfers goes into an Inmate Welfare Fund, which is used to pay such things as the bus ticket and $25 each inmate receives upon leaving prison. The fund also helps pay for vocational training for inmates.

The high cost of commissary items and telephone calls came under criticism from the state’s legislative watchdog in 2011. PEER concluded that MDOC could not assure the commissary prices were reasonable or that the largest possible amount of revenue went into the Inmate Welfare Fund.

Former Corrections Commissioner Chris Epps has pleaded guilty to taking $2 million in bribes and kickbacks, many from former state lawmaker Cecil McCrory, whose company, G.T. Enterprises, had the no-bid commissary contract before selling his company to Keefe.

In the wake of Epps’ indictment, Bryant appointed a task force to review corrections contracts.

Former Attorney General Mike Moore, one of those task force members, wondered if MDOC should take over the commissary services, citing concerns about exorbitant prices charged to inmates whose typically low-income families often foot the bill.

High costs also affect Mississippi jails.

Conchetta Lambert, whose son remains at the Union County Jail, said her family had to shut off their telephone at one point because the phone calls were costing them so much.

“They charge you so much to accept the call,” she said. “One 15-minute call costs up to $9. It kills me to not be able to talk to him.”

As she spoke of being unable to afford the expense, she began to cry. “It’s hard not to be able to talk to your only child on special days like Thanksgiving, Christmas and birthdays.”

Contact Jerry Mitchell at jmitchell@jackson.gannett.com or (601) 961-7064. Follow @jmitchellnews on Twitter.

Prices at Mississippi's prison commissaries:

Four-pack AAA batteries $1 at a discount store; $4.34 in prison commissaries.

6-ounce bag barbecue chips $1 at a discount store; $3.56 for a 5-ounce bag in commissaries.

Two bars Dial soap 97 cents at a discount store; $2.19 for a single bar in commissaries.

Ibuprofen tablet less than 2.5 cents at a discount store ($2.48 for a 100-tablet bottle); 34.5 cents a tablet (2 for 69 cents). in commissaries

Ten black pens $1 at a discount store (10 cents per pen); one pen 85 cents in commissaries.

Price increases under Premier:

Single serving of peanut butter — 35 cents under Keefe, now 63 cents.

Bag of 30 cough drops —  $1.25 (4.1 cents per cough drop) under Keefe; now $1.13 for nine cough drops (12.5 cents per cough drop).

Combination lock — $8 under Keefe, now $10.95.

AM-FM radio —  $18.70 under Keefe, now $24.95.

12 packs of mayonnaise — $1.55 (13 cents per pack) under Keefe, now 40 cents for a single pack.

20-ounce container of grape jelly — $3.40 (17 cents per ounce)  under Keefe, now $3.24 for 12-ounce container (27 cents per ounce)