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The following is one of a series of grievance I was force to file
about the prisoner Commissary at the Frackville state
prison in East Central Pennsylvania. It's the
worst commissary in the state. The
prices are high. Worse yet, the selection is unbelievablly bad
and the manager is generally pugnacious and surly.
State regulations limit how much profit the commissary may legally make on prisoners. The profits go into a special Inmate General Welfare Fund. It's limited to a "maximum" of 5% markUp. The commissary has habitually overcharged, making a yearly average of 5.29% markup (totaling over $1,800 at Frackville alone). A prison commissary may sound like a small-time operation, but the one at Frackville (with a prisoner population of about 1060, has gross sales of $666,900.00 a year. Extrapolating that figure out over the entire prison system of 42,000 prisoners, the commissaries do at least $26,500,000.00 in business a year. Almost half of that money (and the jobs it buys) is shipped out-of-state. Using the Right-to-Know Law, I obtained the commissary bills. I was overcharged 50% for the copies of the bills and I received only part of what I requested. The records reflected a habitual pattern of overcharging. What's more, they suggest that some inappropriate business practices may be going on. More investigation is required. We will be submitting the matter to the Auditor General. Something has to be done to improve the prison commissary and to reduce costs. On average a man earns about $190 a year by working in the prison, The same man is spending $630 a year in the commissary plus $180 for TV cable service. Where does that "extra" $620 come from? From wives, families, loved ones and friends, that's where. In the long run they are the ones who are being gouged. In denying my grievance a fellow named David Popek who calls himself a "budget analyst" and I suppose understands simple arithmetic, wrote "[a]lthough your attached documentation supports your rationale for your concerns relating to commissary selling prices, it is not completely reliable. Selling prices appear to be in line."0 Someplace there must be a school for double talk. My grievance follows. I've been habitually overcharged for some products at the prison commissary. On 28 May I finally obtained copies of some commissary invoices. They evidence the overcharges. The most egregious was 84 cents per packet for
typing paper. I'm aware that others
have complained about gouging on the paper. Instead of admitting
an error and correcting it, the problem was covered-up. Men were
fed the cock-and-bull story that the paper packager (TOp
Flight) 1< /SUP> was "giving" "extra" sheets; lies.
I request $11.39 in adjustments for [the period] up until
30 May. In addition, I request $22.50 spent in getting the
supporting evidence and 70 cents for the attached copies. These are
expenses I would not have incurred except for the official
cover-up efforts.
Over 1/4 million dollars a year is being spent [by the
Frackville prison commissary] out-of-state2 to buy
goods which are inferior quality and high cost. Hanes [underwear],
for example, is manufactured in Pennsylvania, yet the commissary
buys it at <"B> retail from [Access Catalog Company3
in] St. Louis, MO! The Frackville commissary is By Far
the worst in the state. My efforts to talk to the
manager4 were met with rude arrogance.
Please refund ALL overcharges and my costs of making this
claim (at least $34.59). Try to limit overcharges in future.
I enclose a few bills evidencing the overcharges I've claimed.
I wrote to the commissary manager requesting a refund, but
was not favored with the courtesy of a response.5
Letters are going to vendors, central office and the Governor's
office. Articles are being published. 1 Top Flight, Inc. of
Chattapooga, Tennessee 37408, appears to package and/or sell poor
grade paper products to schools. Their typing paper is flimsy
schlock which varies greatly in size. "Everything is funny You are welcome to use or republish
any of our material.
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