Behind prison walls, basic human necessities like edible calories, basic hygiene, over-the-counter pain relief, and communication with children and spouses are converted into profit engines. Incarcerated individuals in Georgia perform compulsory state labor for $0.00 in wages. As a result, the financial burden of their basic survival does not fall on the state, it is outsourced directly to their families.
An analysis of a GDC Inmate Store Order Form exposes systematic price gouging across everyday staples
1. Key Pricing Findings: The State Prison Store Order
Commissary prices in Georgia State Prisons reveal exorbitant markups over standard "free world" retail prices (such as Walmart, Dollar General, or standard supermarkets):
| Category | Item Description | Telfair Price | Free World Retail Est. | Extracted Markup |
| Pantry Staples | Instant Ramen Soups (Chili, Chicken, Beef, Oriental) | $0.85 | $0.35 | +143% |
Folgers Instant Coffee (8 oz Jar) | $14.95 | $7.98 | +87% | |
Peanut Butter (Jar) | $5.15 | $2.40 | +115% | |
Canned/Pouched Tuna | $3.20 | $1.50 | +113% | |
Chicken Breast Pouch | $4.50 | $2.25 | +100% | |
Little Debbie Pastries (Nutty Bars, Zebra Cakes, etc.) | $4.50 | $2.68 | +68% | |
| Hygiene & Personal Care | Murray’s Hair Dressing | $6.10 | $2.98 | +105% |
White Rain Shampoo / Conditioner | $2.55 – $2.60 | $1.35 | +89% to +93% | |
Dial / Dove Bar Soap | $2.25 – $3.45 | $1.25 – $1.85 | +80% to +86% | |
Colgate / Dental Floss Loops | $3.60 – $4.05 | $2.00 – $2.25 | +80% | |
Sure Solid Deodorant | $5.50 | $2.97 | +85% | |
| Health & OTC Medicine | Ibuprofen (Ibutab) | $4.00 | $2.50 | +60% |
Acetaminophen (Tylenol) | $1.75 | $1.25 | +40% | |
| Apparel & Basic Living | Shower Shoes (Plastic slides) | $3.00 | $1.50 | +100% |
Gym Shorts (Large – 6XL) | $17.85 | $12.00 | +49% | |
Legal Writing Pad (8.5x11) | $2.55 | $1.50 | +70% |
2. Inflation
The severe inflation on store order forms is not the result of supply chain friction; it is an engineered pricing structure:
- Tier 1 (Vendor Markup): Private distribution vendors sell goods to the state at institutional prices that frequently exceed commercial retail rates.
- Tier 2 (State Agency Markup): The GDC applies an additional departmental markup—often between 50% and 300%—before the goods reach the commissary window.
- Nutritional Coercion: Because institutional dining hall portions are routinely deficient in protein, calories, and micronutrients, purchasing shelf-stable protein (such as tuna at $3.20
, chicken at $4.50 , and peanut butter at $5.15 ) is a biological necessity rather than a luxury. - Medical Copay Avoidance: State prisons charge $5 copays for medical visits, forcing incarcerated individuals to self-medicate via commissary with $4.00 Ibuprofen
or $3.10 Hydrocortisone cream .
3. The Telecom Monopoly and Revenue Kickbacks
Beyond physical commissary, the telecommunications system operates as a secondary extortion pipeline:
- Site Commissions and Kickbacks: Correctional telecommunication contracts historically operate on a "commission" model, where telecom providers remit a percentage of all gross phone call and messaging revenue back to prison and jail administrations.
- The Price of Connection: While the free world enjoys unlimited digital connectivity, families of incarcerated people pay per-minute rates for routine phone calls, video visits, and electronic messages.
- Preying on Family Stability: Research consistently shows that maintaining strong family and community ties is the single greatest factor in reducing post-release recidivism. Monetizing phone calls turns rehabilitation into a financial penalty.
4. "Family Taxes"
The economic extraction does not stop at the store window or the telephone terminal:
- Deposit Surcharges: Every time a family member transfers money to an inmate’s trust account (via third-party payment platforms like JPay, ConnectNetwork, or MoneyGram), fees ranging from $3.00 to $10.00 are skimmed off the top before a single dollar reaches the account.
- Weekly Caps and Arbitrary Limits: Telfair imposes an $85 weekly spending limit
. Families sending $300 to $340 per month to cover basic hygiene, nutrition, and writing supplies find their dollars diluted by 30% to 150% markups compared to open retail . - Disproportionate Harm on Impoverished Households: Incarceration disproportionately affects families already living at or near the poverty line. Grandmothers on fixed Social Security incomes and single working mothers carry the financial burden of paying for state-mandated incarceration costs.
5. Policy Interventions and Structural Solutions
To dismantle this captive-market profiteering, legislative and administrative interventions must target four areas:
- Statutory Caps on Commissary Markups: Enact legislation tying prison commissary prices to standard wholesale costs plus a strictly audited operating margin (not to exceed 10–15%).
- Banning Telecom Commissions: Prohibit state and county correctional facilities from accepting monetary kickbacks or vendor commissions from inmate telephone, tablet, and video communication services.
- Elimination of Money Transfer Fees: Require zero-fee deposit mechanisms for families depositing funds into offender trust accounts.
- Independent Fiscal Auditing: Mandate annual public audits of all GDC commissary contracts, vendor pricing agreements, and Inmate Welfare Fund expenditures.
Cold, Hard Facts:
We can use our "context clues" and it is not hard to conclude that the system is set up to be a money well. Unfortunately, the money is milked from our state's most vulnerable citizens. Because Georgia does not pay for labor performed by incarcerated individuals, the economic burden falls directly on their pre-existing support systems.
- The Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and Prison Policy Initiative data establishes that the median pre-incarceration income for state prisoners is $19,185 which is 41% lower than non-incarcerated peers of the same age groups [1].
- Over 42% of individuals incarcerated in state prisons grew up in households receiving public assistance [3].
- The Ella Baker Center and Vera Institute report that 1 in 3 families with an incarcerated loved one goes into debt solely to cover phone calls, visitation travel, and commissary deposits [4].
These figures are facts and show how low income families are preyed on by the same entity that forces their incarcerated loved one to perform back-breaking work for free.
Modern Day "Jim Crow" Laws:
The passing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 targeted the formal structure of "Jim Crow", yet coercive labor and state-sanctioned oppression were quickly adapted into the criminal legal system. Rather than abolishing forced labor entirely, the Thirteenth Amendment created an exception clause that continues to permit the economic exploitation of incarcerated individuals: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." [5] Georgia’s state constitution preserves this identical mechanism, declaring: "There shall be no involuntary servitude within the State of Georgia except as a punishment for crime after legal conviction thereof or for contempt of court." [6]
Please spread the word and pay attention! Do not give up! Remember that good always defeats evil.
Author: Anna Shepherd
Resources:
[1] Bureau of Justice Statistics, (n.d.). National Prisoner Statistics. https://bjs.ojp.gov/data-collection/national-prisoner-statistics-nps
[2] Prison Policy Initiative. (n.d.). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2025. prisonpolicy.org. https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2025.html#trends
[3] Id.
[4] Ella Baker Center. (September 2015). Who Pays?: The True Cost of Incarceration on Families. ellabakercenter.org. https://ellabakercenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/Who-Pays-FINAL.pdf
[5] U.S. Const. amend. XIII, § 1
[6] Ga. Const. art. I, § 1, ¶ XXII