the commissary in prison is nothing more than a money racket scheme!!!!

why else would they charge such outrageous prices for the basic necessities? they have, literally a captive clientele/buyers. shampoo that costs $1 out here is $1.50 in there. some of it can cost $3.65 and more. the MP3 player she bought cost $88, amazon sells the same exact thing (except her's is locked to only work in the prison) for $49. and when you get out you can keep the the MP3 player if you notify them and i believe you have to pay to have it unlocked so that it will work outside of the prison. t-shirts are $6.50 but shorts that they "might" want to buy are much more. my daughter sent me a partial price list from the commissary and the prices on there about choked me!

thumperjoe, it cost's me $6.95 to deposit money to the phone account, and minimum amount is $25.00. I try to put $50 a month, it's what I can afford. So I agree, commissary and phone system, what a rip off.

EchoMoon: My son told me not to put any money on his commissary account in Missoula because he said the prices are outrageous. When he was being held in ICE near home the only way to watch the "community" TV was with headphones that you had to buy from the commissary for $80.00 (when you got out you could use them as a headset radio) whoopee! My sister in law has a son in a state facility. Every time he has been moved she has to buy him a new TV for his cell at $100 each, and if he gets transferred again...can't take it with him, has to buy a new one.

yeah the prices are horrible. but without money in her account she is reduced to indigent and that would be the only way she could get pens, tablets stamps to use to write home with. not to mention soap or shampoo. like i said i put in between $25 to $30 a month and she's very careful with the money. she always makes sure that she has the money for the calls to home.

There are times that our phone conversation got cut off for no reason. One time he told me about the movie that he was watching and it happened to be Judge Drake, and he said it sucks and it got cut off right there. We think they just cut it off to make more money.

I found out I can avoid the almost $8 processing fee by paying Securus via bank's online payment. I just have to plan ahead and give it a 2 weeks to arrive. But it is free and I refuse to pay more money to Securus.

It was also very frustrate that we had money in work center, but since he is not going to work center anymore, we want to transfer the money to his commissary account. First, we got two stories going on. He got reject letters told him he can not get them transferred, and I called the jail myself, and they said he just has to request. It went on like that couple of times. I even had deputy told me the money can be transferred, he just has to ask. He was getting frustrated and thought that people just trying to give him hard time. Finally, my lawyer got the email from jail apologize for giving out the wrong info, that he can't have his money transferred. Now we will have to wait till his release day to get that 500 back. I mean, why are they holding up the money for?

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-lazarus-20140909-column.html

Mmm Global Tel-link huh ?

Kitty, I totally understand what you are saying about running out of money. That is how these crooks work because they don't want you to send the money order in. And as far as telling my son what is going on, he wants to know everything. He wants to live where his family is. He does not want to forget anything. And, if anything is going wrong, he wants to know that too. He likes to stay in the know, if you know what I mean?

got a call last night about a silly but very happy/important subject to my daughter last nite. :D

she calls me on fridays so last nights call was totally out of the blue,but of course i was very happy to get it. she called to let me know that she had finally bought a watch. says she really doesn't like the colors as they are "pink and gray. she is NOT a pink color person. says she's glad that she finally has a watch but really wishes that it was different colors. then we laughed when she said she still finds herself squinting to see the clocks on the walls instead of looking at her wrist! LOL

her very best, happiest and most important news to her was that she had finally gotten her MP3 player back after sending it for repair. she was pretty much giddy with happiness at not only having an MP3 player again but that instead of fixing and sending back the one she had bought? they sent her a brand new one. i could just imagine her twitching and almost bouncing for joy. music is so very important to her. so she can now listen to her choice of music and privately too. plus she can now hear the tv's again without carting around the radio! she said she could trade the radio off for something else but that she is going to tuck it away and keep it for back up in case something ever happens to the MP3 player again.

such simple things that we all take for granted out here, but that bring so much pleasure and happiness to them.

EchoMoon, my son loves his music too! It just seems to take them away from where they are. Happy your daughter called you! I have a phone date with my son every Monday and Friday! It gets my week started and ends my week in a great way!

Thanks for your support. It is really hard. The hardest days for me are when he has gone to court and I haven't heard from him. So anyone know how long DNA tests take. They keep postphoning his case, supposedly due to not yet having results.

Regarding Global Tel Link (now called Connect Network & GTL) they are in Montana as well, that is the phone company I have had the "pleasure" of dealing with.

Kitty, i can just hear/visualize the venom dripping when you say "pleasure"!

EchoMoon, am I that obvious? I have dealt with worse, but they aren't exactly consumer friendly.
The ABSOLUTE WORST, was ICS Solutions here in New York State.

nah, i just happened to guess lucky! LOL

I believe that to have a chance at rehabilitating IF they even did anything, it is very important to be able to talk to us and have us visit if we can. There are statistics about it in fact.

What if we were in there and couldn't talk to anyone? Wouldn't we lose all hope?

Yes Rew, the laws are stupid, ridiculous and need to be changed. Doubt they ever will. In my Criminal Justice classes, the books even say they know they are but probably won't change.

My calls cost $11.00 from a county jail ten miles from here because it's a cell phone. Many of us only have cell phones. SO he found out that if he calls from a calling card, it's only 21 cents a minute. Why the difference? Makes no sense. Just another way to stick it to us.

Mine got charged $5 a week for the nurse to hand him his med's. Doesn't she get paid to work there? Why should we pay her too. And after he is officially sentenced to go to prison, while he waits, they charge him $16 a day. I asked the lady there if the cell comes with a hot tub and a swimming pool, and where do I check in. HAHA

Mine loves to check in and feel he is still part of our world out here. And he helps me do the bills, figure out things, even advises on car problems. Frustrates him so much not to be here to help, but does what he can. Without those calls none of it could happen.

People don't realize as they are saying " Well, they did the crime, why should they have it easy?" that first off, some of them did nothing but got convicted by false information. OR that we did nothing but love them, and we will continue to love that person we miss very much that was an important part of our life and world regardless of where they are or what they did.

Many of us really struggle, then these places rip us off. And there is nothing we can do about it. It is not politically correct for a politician to stand up for people in prison, look out for their rights. And what about our rights as a human. We are treated shabbily too, because we love and support them.

REW knows that no matter what I always stand by mine, and always will. He is worth it, and I bet all of you feel the same. And yes, if they can put all these sleazy people on TV flaunting their bodies, why isn't that wrong? We have lost our freedom in the US in so many ways.

We are watched, listened into, you name it, and not just in the prison setting. The US is a scary place to live now, we are only told it is the best place in the world to live.