crittercrazy, I have two sons in prison, one in Iowa and one in Colorado. My Iowa son eats pretty well. However, my Colorado son would starve, if I didn't put money on his books every month. I use MoneyGram to send him $150, which costs me $4.95 if I do it in person. If I use Jpay to send him the $150, the fee is $6.95. Then, the DOC takes out restitution and other fees, before my son ever sees the money. It's a racket, indeed!

Both of my sons have very long sentences (20 yrs and 4-to-life). I'm committed to supporting them as long as I'm alive. I spend so much on them that I can't afford to pay rent AND own a car. So, I either live in a relative's unfinished basement and have a car, or pay rent to live in a tiny apartment and take public transit everywhere. Right now, I'm doing the former, but I've done the latter, also.

I just bought a car, so I'll be making payments on it for the next seven years. So, I'm stuck living in this basement or sleeping in my car, just so my sons won't become skeletons.

I'm retired, have a very small pension and social security benefits. However, my income is just enough that I'm not qualified for housing assistance. I could easily afford my own housing and a car, if I didn't have to support two sons in prison. But, I try to dwell on the positives, instead of the negatives, because dwelling on the negatives would destroy me and I wouldn't be any good at all to my loved ones.

Oh my Honest I am so sorry you are dealing with both of them being locked away. One loved one being away is enough to tear a person apart. You must have amazing strength to be so positive for them both. I will pray for miracles for your family.

Thanks for the prayers, crittercrazymom. I believe they do help.

In CA, the food quantity goes up and down. Some days, they have enough and other days, not enough and he goes to bed hungry.

Because of the fees and restitution (CA takes 55%), there wouldn't be much left for him to use. He would rather wait and get a package once a quarter and money can go much farther. He sticks up on cheap items like soups, peanut butter and jelly, so he can supplement when he doesn't get much to eat. So, any money I would be sending him monthly, I save up so I can send a quartet package to him instead.

Even tho it's not cheap, thank heavens for commisary. He shares what he has and I'm glad for a good job that allows me to send $$$

In the county jail my husband was in, all they feed him was crab high in carbs. He gained 30 lbs in 3 months and it has taken him 6 years to get rid off it

we were blessed that I didn't live far from the jail and if you put $25 or less on the books they wouldn't take any of it. So he got $25 every 2 weeks. it was enough for a few calls, and an occasional treat from commissary or a burger from the dollar menu at Mickey D's that they could order on Fridays for double the price

Even though the jail my son was in fed them 3 meals a day and he always had money for commissary, he still lost weight. His clothes were falling off him when he walked out of there.

That must have been nice, faerydark, that they could order something at Mickey D's. There were a couple of fast food places that could be seen from the jail when my son was in pc but they didn't allow that there. The day I picked him up, we went to Mickey D's for breakfast!

The problem with the state taking the money the family sends for restitution is just not fair, but it is a problem all across the country.

I am working with a legislator in Oklahoma to try to help with this problem and I also have two other projects I want to get started. It may take two or three years to even begin to get my ideas implemented, but I have lots of free time.

I wish I could do this for every state, but I can only do this for Oklahoma since I am an Oklahoma resident.

The first project is to cap the amount of restitution the prison can take on money sent in at 10%. This will allow families to send money to their loved ones without all of it being taken by the state. The restitution program is to be paid by the inmate and not the family. I have seen too many families struggling economically, and then most of the money they send in gets taken by the state with the inmate receiving very little.

The second project is for sex offenders in prison only. I want to persuade the legislators to set up certain prisons as prisons only for sex offenders. This idea will be much like the SNY yards in California. If they won't go for one prison, I will suggest that they partition off several prisons where the men and women with sex offenses can be placed so they can do their time without worrying. As is it now in this state, a sex offender is just thrown in with the general population and he must learn to fend for himself.

The last project is for sex offenders and violent offenders doing time under the 85% rule, I want to propose that they can earn good time credits at the beginning of the sentence. As it stands now, and good time credits cannot be applied until the have reached the 85% mark---they come off the back of the sentence. They did pass some legislation regarding this this last session, but it did not go far enough.

The time is ripe for some change in Oklahoma as we have a terrible overcrowding problem and some of the politicians realize that it is a problem that will have to be addressed soon; it is bankrupting the state.

As I said I am just trying to work with this representative----and he knows we must do something with our overcrowding problem in this state----and get our foot in the door.

I think the SNY type yards will be the easiest to implement, but we will see.

Hell, they may so "hell no" to each proposal, but we have to try.

rewdiazepma

Rew if you start a petition for either of them count me in.

Yeah the warden at the jail was alright, he took another position not long after my husband got out. I'm told they don't do that anymore. People who didn't have money on their books complained it was unfair.

Those are great proposals. I hope you can get them implemented

If you think state or federal prisons are stingy with their food, state private prisons operated by prison corporations are even worse.

In Oklahoma, we have several private prisons holding Oklahoma DOC inmates. The conditions are terrible. One thing about private prisons for sure is that they make no attempt to hide the fact that it is all about profit as far as they are concerned.

rewdiazepam

There must be some kind of indemnity clause in their contracts with the state considering that many are ripe for lawsuits. Thankfully WI was not like that when my husband was in prison and from what I understand they will not go private. One of the prisons in WI was built by a private corrections company and then the state decided not to go that direction. It is the shabbily built prison in the state from what I understand. the cracks in the exterior walls, light can be seen through them, right to the outside.

It is so much about profit the inmates are treated worse than animals on their way to slaughter.

I am so sorry your husband is going through this. Hopefully he doesn't have that long to go. It's a shame how they treat people. ...