Basically, prisoners are not allowed to have money. But, they are able to earn money during they are in the jail by working a job in prison or receive it from their family or friends who send them. Where will those money go? It will goes to their personal prisoner trust fund and the most of prisoners call it as commissary money.
In the jail, they are provided meals, basic clothes and a very basic personal care items. However, if they live with good behaviour in the jail, they will be permitted to use their trust fund money to buy other items from the prison store called commissary. They will be able to order commissary in certain day and usually it is held once every two weeks. When the day comes, they will take a list of items that they want to purchase and then they will stand in line at the commissary window. When their commissary order is filled, they will walk away with a bag of their orders such as coffee, instant soup, cookies, chips, soap, and more. If they have permission, they are also able to buy things such as typewriters, clocks, fans, hot pots, shoes, underchlothing and basic over the counter medications.
How about the commissary price? Where can we see that? If you want to see the prison commissary price list, you are able to access the website of corrections department where the inmate is incarcerated. For example, Department of Justice Federal Bureau of Prisons MCC, New York releases the commissary price list and you are able to access it in www.bop.gov. In the commissary price list, there are a table for filling the inmate’s name, unit, reg, date and signature and also tier. Under that table, there are some tables of commissary price list.
In the commissary price list, there are a lot of items that can be bought by the inmates completed with the price of it. The items are categorized based on its category such as stamps, religious items, shaving products, eye wear, hala/ kosher meals, dietic items, dental items, medical items, vitamins, female items, soap items, candy and snacks, deodorant, hair care items, food items, sundry items, beverages, clothing, greeting cards and some others. The format of each commissary price list in every correctional department can be a little bit different but generally it contains of the section of personal information about the inmates such as name, number, unit, and then the list of price.
You may wonder about the total of spending that is done by inmate in the commissary. It can vary depending on the need of the inmates. But, in Illinois and Massachusetts, inmates usually spend an average of over $1,000 per person at the commissary during the course of a year. So, what is the most bought items in the prison commissary? The answer is food. No wonder why food become the most bought item in the commissary because the jail cafetarias usually serve small portions of unappealing food. Besides, prison food have inadequate nutritional content. So, commissary can help supplement a lack of calories in the cafetaria.