The Prison Commissary

Prisoners all throughout Massachusetts institutional mindset are being charged exorbitant prices for second rate clothing and appliances voiding a lot of the Consumers' Regulations.

Prisoners' commissaries don't have any "REGULATORY COMMITTEE" to make sure that inmates are not being subjected to price gouging or being overpriced by the Keefe Commissary Network.

A good example of this is that the prices for canteen items such as food and cosmetics are constantly being raised every five to six months without inmates ever being informed and after said items have been purchased, and it is always the canteen items mostly used and affordable for an inmate to purchase; that are the items that the price goes up on.

Prisoners' money is also taken out from their accounts in advance for:

Clothing
Appliances
Religious items

Prisoners can end up waiting anywhere from three to five months for their order to be delivered to them. And although prisoners can file verbal grievances to various administrative officials at what is called a "happy hour"...

Where prisoners are allowed, three times a week, to have direct access to and with the prison officials

In the presence of or with the Superintendent, Director of Classification, Parole Officer, Property Officer, Records Department, Health Service Administrator, Disciplinary Officer, Director of Operations, Mailroom Officer, Director of Security.

The problem with this type of direct contact, is that the expedient process, and prisoners' concerns/inquiry are intersticed. SWEPT UNDER A RUG, WITH A SMILE.

So in essence it's a ridiculous representation to further ridicule a prisoner in a delicately skillful, yet not obvious way that is not challenged by the prison population, when it should be. Because very few issues, if any, are ever resolved at a "Happy Hour".

There's a need for some type of legislation, that not only needs to be "passed" but also to halt the price gouging that the Keefe Commissary Network gets away with and the kickbacks that someone must be receiving under the table from Keefe.

The prison commissary does not provide anything to the inmate populations recreational activities nor to the few inmate programs that exist in the prison facilities and if they have made any type of a contribution... then that money has been misappropriated with numerous funds also allocated by the State House for inmate programming.

Should there be a State and Federal investigation into the practices of the subcontractors, Department of Corrections officials and the Keefe Commissary Network?!?

By all means, yes!!

Alim Fardan Hanafy
M.C.I. Concord
Post Office Box #9106
Concord, Massachusetts 01472