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You want to get rich quick. We're here to help!
When the state government buys something (and it buys thousands of millions of dollars worth of stuff each year) it's required to use the contracting services of the General Services Department. There are all sorts of legal safeguards to assure that the biding on the contract is fair and honest, and that the taxpayers get the best bargains. That's true for everybody except The Pennsylvania Department Of Corrections! That pack of thieves makes under-the-table deals for multiple millions of your dollars. They buy almost everything at greatly inflated retail prices from relatives, rural cronies, and even from themselves! You, too, could be getting a share of the ill-gotten-gains! The Department Of Corrections ("DOC") has never been troubled by violating the laws. Guards and prison administrators believe that they are above the law, so they habitually scoff at it. The worst criminals in the state (after cops) are the DOC. The essential, but secret goal of the DOC is to pump fortunes to the dullard-guards and into the rural Republican areas of the state. It's a kind of secret welfare paid to white bumpkins. Local purchasing by prison officials is one of the key payoffs. Local prison administrators need staples such as produce to daily feed the captive thousands, or tons of hamburger for a weekly treat, or the television sets that prisoners are allowed to buy at greatly inflated prices. The local prison administrator gives the lucrative deal to his son or his friend, or even himself. So, at one prison, tons of meat and bakery staples are bought at inflated retail prices from the local "meat market" owned by the relative of a prison kitchen executive. The fruits and vegetables for the prisoners' diet are bought from a local "country market" at retail prices without the nuisance of competitive bidding. You name it, and some local friend or relative is making windfall profits by selling it to the prison. Why can't you get a cut of the illegal gravy? At one time, prisoners could shop around to get the best prices and services to buy a television or a radio. In reality, almost all prisoner televisions and radios were bought by the prisoner's family as gifts. The wife or mother "on the streets" could try to get the best deal for herself. Then she'd have the highly treasured present shipped to the prisoner. It helped him wile away the years and kept him in his cell and out of the guards' faces. All that's changed. The corrupt Republican administration has devised a scheme for raking off a profit for its pets. Now, prisoners must buy their televisions and radios from the prison store at greatly inflated prices. In turn, the prison store buys the televisions and radios from an out-of-state crony and tacks on a 5% premium! There was no bidding for the best price, no legal or binding contract, no respect for the law. Hungry to exploit prisoners and especially to gouge the mostly black, mostly poor families of prisoners, local prison administrators just gave the local contract to a buddy. The poor citizen pays the price. What is especially devious about this conservative scheme is that now the prisoner himself must buy his TV from his own prison account. His family can't buy it as a gift for him. Being an honest, decent person, you can't see what's wrong with that arrangement. You figure that the prisoner's wife or family can simply send him the money and then he buys the TV himself. Ah! but this is the Department of Corrections we're taking about. Everything the scoundrels do is slimy! Their idea is for the loving wife to send $200 of her hard-earned money to her mate. Both are likely black and poor so the DOC feels justified in exploiting them. The loving wife's money is promptly seized by the DOC to pay for the shoddy uniform that the prisoner has worn out! He never gets his TV. The loving wife ends up paying the state for shoddy, prisoner-made clothes that she was never given the opportunity to shop around to buy at the best prices! But, there's more and even better prison profits to be enjoyed through the joys of local prison purchasing. The local retailer bills the DOC for say, 20 crates of turnips for a Sunday feast. Actually, the "market" delivers 10 crates of turnips to the prison kitchen, but friend "Joe" pretends he got the full order. The cost of the 10 undelivered crates is split between friend "Joe" and the "market!" You can't beat that! We are publicizing this racket in a hope that more of you will get into the lucrative business of local prison purchasing. Why can't you get 40 cents for a 15 cent apple? Return to the Crime Stories Menu Return to the Main Menu. |