Prisoners are struggling to afford even the most basic necessities.
"For the price of a new pair of white Reebok Classics, the cheapest shoes available at the commissary, I could stave off hunger pains for at least a few weeks more." |
 | | Nicole Rifkin |
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As prices climb precipitously, we can feel inflation in the cost of almost everything in our daily lives. And that includes the lives of those without the freedom to buy cheaper products, move somewhere more affordable or make a minimum wage. We spoke to Patrick Irving, an incarcerated writer in Idaho, about his recent Times Opinion essay on rising prices inside prisons, and how he and other inmates are struggling to afford even the most basic supplies. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. |
Readers without much exposure to the U.S. prison system may be surprised to learn that inmates have to pay for their own essentials like shoes and gloves by working jobs that pay very little — in your case, 40 cents an hour. What was your initial reaction to this arrangement when you were first admitted? |
Patrick Irving: Since the start of my incarceration I have been fortunate to receive financial support from my family. But at the beginning of my sentence, the more I calculated the sum required to maintain what I consider to be a minimum standard of living, the more I saw my own existence as a burden on my family. This made me regularly contemplate removing myself from the equation — and the logic that supports this train of thought is hard to shake. |
Do you think the pocket-pinching of prisoners by corporate contractors — in this case, the Keefe Group and JPay — is purely a kind of profiteering, or does it also serve a moralizing or disciplinary function? |
I find it hard to imagine that prison profiteers, through diligent research, have identified the optimal level of demoralization to which the incarcerated must be exposed to make communities safer. Much easier to understand is how humans have a tendency to strip away as much value as possible from those they ostracize and how corporations see it as their responsibility to achieve maximum profits. |
We're currently communicating with you via an intermediary with the Prison Journalism Project. How does an organization like P.J.P. assist incarcerated writers like you when it comes to pitching and communicating with news organizations? |
Throughout my career as a writer, I have sent about 3,500 letters seeking an audience with media, legislators, officials and advocates. My rate of return on those letters is approximately 3 percent, a difficult rate to reconcile with the expense and exposure to risks. When working with the Prison Journalism Project, I am not only certain to receive an adequate response, but I am also treated with dignity in every interaction and provided opportunities to learn with every exchange. |
You mention that the Keefe Commissary Network announced a blanket 8.5 percent increase on all items earlier this year. How did Keefe come up with that specific percentage? Does it work with prisons to set prices, or does it set prices independently? |
Keefe's May price increase of 8.5 percent was the result of the Consumer Price Index. The company's contract with the Idaho Department of Correction allows for prices to fluctuate in accordance with the C.P.I., and I would be hard-pressed to formulate an argument for why this isn't acceptable. Per the same contract, all price increases must be approved by the I.D.O.C. contract monitor and supported by the company with market data. Though I submitted public records requests in April to illuminate this process, the requests have yet to be filled. |
As for how the prices are initially set: In 2018, Idaho's private prison contractor, the GEO Group, provided access to the same Keefe menu used by Idaho's state-run prisons, but with many of the products offered at a much cheaper price. This suggests to me that the I.D.O.C. exercises some level of authority when it comes to setting prices that will help meet certain sales goals. |
You mention in the essay that you do advocacy work on behalf of incarcerated people in part to maintain your mental health. Is there anything you'd like readers to know about this work? |
Civic engagement has restorative properties, especially for a disenfranchised person like me. I find that by learning to interact with the systems in which I exist, I develop a deeper sense of empathy and understanding. I learn the benefits of approaching matters with tact and holding myself to a certain standard. I force myself to re-evaluate my part in every experience and think critically as opposed to emotionally. And perhaps most important, I find myself introducing to others new and constructive ways of thinking. |
| READ PATRICK'S FULL ESSAY HERE. | | |
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