I seem to recall an ex-con telling me that it was one system with
headquarters in St. Louis. Don't recall a name, though. They are in
business to make a profit.

He also told me that Barbara Bush and other politico-types own
sizeable portions of the enterprise.

Explosion in prison construction in the 80s and 90s - explosion in
arrests for, say, minor drug offenses during the same period.

Two plus two still equal four.
--
mad



On Sun, 10 May 2009 08:27:09 -0700 (PDT),
wrote:

>I ALSO HAVE TO COMPLAIN ABOUT THE HIGHER PRICES THEY ARE CHARGING THE
>INMATES. I HAVE TO PUT MONEY IN MY SON'S ACCOUNT THE BEST WAY I
>CAN,WITH NO JOB AND UNABLE TO FIND ONE RIGHT NOW. IT'S NOT RIGHT!
>LET'S GET THE PRICE'S BACK DOWN,ASAP!!!! BEFORE THE PRICE'S WENT UP HE
>COULD GET ALOT AND NOW HE CAN'T GET MUCH AT ALL. YES,THEY ARE IN
>PRISON BUT THEY ARE STILL HUMAN AND HAVE NEEDS!!!!!!!THEY NEED THESE
>ITEMS TO SURVIVE,THEY DON'T GET MUCH FOOD AT CHOW SO THEY DEPEND ON
>CANTEEN ITEMS! SO, LET'S PLEASE DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE HIGH PRICE'S,
>"GET THEM DOWN PLEASE"!! IT HELPS THE INMATES AS WELL AS THE FAMILIES
>THAT GIVE THEM MONEY!
>THANK YOU;
>CONCERNED PARENT
>
>Gregory Morrow wrote:
>> More liberal bleeding-heart crybabying, lol... :
>>
>>
>> http://www.suntimes.com/business/154...042509.article
>>
>> Inmates, families upset about snack prices
>>
>>
>> April 25, 2009
>>
>> FROM THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
>>
>> "TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Having to pay more for Honey Buns and other prison
>> snack shop items has made inmates at Florida prisons and their families
>> upset.
>>
>> The state, which has the nation's third largest state prison system, raised
>> prices about three weeks ago under a new contract with an outside company.
>> Since then, the department has gotten approximately 60 phone calls and
>> letters from families complaining about the increases.
>>
>> "The prices have increased dramatically," one inmate's family wrote in an
>> e-mail to the department signed "concerned family." "We have to send money
>> to our loved one and now he can hardly buy anything substantial. Please can
>> we fix this?"
>>
>> Officials are working with the company that provides the goods and sets the
>> prices at Florida's about 130 prisons to see if some prices can be lowered,
>> Department of Corrections spokeswoman Gretl Plessinger said Friday. Prices
>> at the snack shops, called canteens, were last changed in October. While
>> it's not unusual to get complaints when prices increase, Plessinger said
>> there seem to be more this time.
>>
>> "Prices are going up everywhere," Plessinger said. "We're sympathetic to
>> them, but it's tough on everyone."
>>
>> Prices went up March 30. Peanut M&Ms and Snickers bars jumped from 66 cents
>> to 89 cents. A can of Coke that used to cost 57 cents now costs 89.
>>
>> But the price increase that has prompted the most outrage is on Honey Buns.
>> The old price for the cinnamon pastry with icing was 66 cents. Now it's 99
>> cents. A chocolate variety of the sweet went from 61 cents to $1.49.
>>
>> The department is looking at possibly substituting another less-expensive
>> brand, Plessinger said.
>>
>> Also up: cigarettes. A pack of Marlboro cigarettes used to cost $3.70 but is
>> now $4.47 -- an increase of 77 cents. The increase is, in part, the result
>> of 62-cent-per-pack federal sales tax increase that went into effect April
>> 1. Prisons in other states also reported increasing their prices on
>> cigarettes as a result.
>>
>> Money from canteen sales goes into the state's general fund, about $30
>> million last year according to the department. The prices have to be in line
>> with what the general public pays for goods.
>>
>> The department contracts with Missouri-based Keefe Commissary Network to
>> supply the commissaries. Mark Jensen, senior vice president of Centric
>> Group, Keefe's parent company, said the nationwide supplier of products to
>> correctional facility commissaries doesn't comment on current customers or
>> contracts.
>>
>> Inmates use a plastic ID card that works like a debit card to buy items.
>> Some prisoners have jobs that pay a small amount, but most money is
>> deposited in an inmate's account by family members.
>>
>> Jill Lopez has two young children and a fiance in prison in Raiford in north
>> Florida who she sends between $20 and $40 a week.
>>
>> "I can't send him any more. There's no way," said Lopez, 46, a Fort Pierce
>> secretary who makes $12 an hour.
>>
>> Lopez's fiance, Fred Whyms, 39, has about two years left in prison for
>> dealing in stolen property. He told her inmates are extremely frustrated
>> with the price increases and that some items are going missing.
>>
>> "They're all freaking out," Lopez said in a telephone interview. "You have
>> grown men that are hungry. What's going to happen? There're going to be more
>> fights. People are going to crankier."
>>
>> In some places that has already happened, according to Charles Norman, an
>> inmate serving a life sentence at the Tomoka Correctional Institution in
>> Daytona Beach.
>>
>> "Prisoners whose families sacrificed to send them money to buy sweets,
>> drinks, food items, and toiletries were getting assaulted, and their canteen
>> bags taken from them," he wrote in a newsletter e-mailed to friends. "The
>> strong ones armed themselves."
>>
>> In an e-mail, Department of Corrections spokesman Alex Thompson said they
>> had not gotten any complaints that the price increases resulted in abuse..."
>>
>> </>
>>
>>
>> Copyright 2009 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not
>> be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.