I received an essay titled “I.D.O.C. Bilks Prisoners for Millions Through Commissary Scheme” by Joseph Dole who is incarcerated at Tamms SuperMax a couple of days ago. I have written here and here about the millions of dollars in profit that prisons and jails make by “selling” goods to those who are incarcerated. An article in the Texas Tribune last year reported that prisoners in that state spent 95 million dollars at commissaries.

In his essay, Mr. Dole makes a cogent and convincing case that the Illinois Department of Corrections has been and continues to unfairly tax and exploit prisoners. He writes:

“In order to generate more revenue to help pay for a prison system that is both over capacity and siphoning money away from much-needed funding for infrastructure, education, and healthcare, the Illinois General Assembly passed Senate Bill 0629 on November 20, 2003, after both houses overrode disgraced Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich’s amendatory veto. This bill, which became Public Act 93-0607 on November 25, 2003, effectively amended 730 ILCS 5/3-7-2a granting the I.D.O.C. the authority to add up to a 25% surcharge to all non-tobacco products and up to a 35% surcharge on all tobacco products sold at facility-maintained commissaries throughout the I.D.O.C. Prior to this amendment the surcharge was capped at 10%. The increase took effect on January 1, 2004, the effective date of the amendment.

Illinois prisoners groaned as the prices on commissary rose. As captive consumers and the state’s poorest segment of the population, this increase meant a drastic reduction in what they were able to purchase with the limited funds they have, especially considering that the ten-dollar state pay prisoners receive has never seen an increase to adjust for inflation. One can imagine the depreciation of purchasing power over the decades. The price of postage alone has tripled in the past four decades while state pay remained the same.

Ironically, it wasn’t the indigent prisoners who cried the loudest about the increase in surcharges, but rather it was the guards. Their union, the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) was able to convince Illinois House Representative Ron Stephens to sponsor a bill (HB4559) to again amend 730 ILCS 5/3-7-2a. This time the amendment was to effectively exempt the guards and other I.D.O.C. employees from the increases in surcharges enacted by SB0629 and cap the surcharges they would have to pay at 10%. The new bill also made sure, though, that the surcharges that were collected from prisoners could still go to pay the commissary employee’s salaries. HB4559 was filed by Rep. Stephens on April 26, 2006. It was originally known as the “Restore fair commissary pricing for I.D.O.C. employees” bill. Ironically, it is only the middle class guards and employees who are seemingly entitled to fair pricing of commissary goods and not the indigent prisoners who can’t choose to shop at Walmart instead. With AFSCME backing, it quickly sailed through both houses of the Illinois General Assembly with a wide margin of support, and the new amendment became law as Public Act 94-0913, effective June 23, 2006, a mere two months after proposed.”

Read Mr. Dole entire illuminating essay HERE (PDF).