The Pennsylvania Department of Imprisonment is in unclean partnerships with a number of rackets. Each of the crooked deals has the same amoral aim, to gouge money from prisoners, or really from prisoners' families. Prisoners' families are generally among the poorest persons in the country. Nonetheless, most prisoners' families typically try to support their loved ones by sending them a little money whenever they can. The Department of Imprisonment's goal is to take as much of that money as possible. It's like a Mafia operation, grind nickels and dimes from the poorest people! And we taxpayers pay them to do it. The prison telephone system is perhaps the Department of Imprisonment's biggest racket. It hauls in many millions of dollars each year for the department and it's crooked corporate partner. Not far behind is the commissary racket. By scrimping on prisoners' meals and by serving real garbage, the prison department (fondly called "the DOC,") has created a demand for foods that prisoners can actually eat. To fill essential nutritional needs, the prisons operate commissaries. While the staff steals huge amounts of foods from the prison kitchens, prisoners must buy overpriced groceries, treats and other essentials, such as shampoo and underwear from the commissary. Some years ago the DOC went into cahoots with a corporation from Missouri. The idea was to gouge the prisoners for crap. The prison department and the corporation split the booty. Stealing from 45,000 men what amounts to a huge profit for the out-of-state vendor and for the DOC; millions of dollars! Centric of Olivette, Missouri seems to be at the heart of the ugly octopus. It operates it's scam under a long list of aliases. The fictitious names include Access (which mostly markets clothing, shoes and electronics to prisoners), Keefe or the even sillier Keefe Kitchens which has no kitchens, but sells foods and snacks. The corporation also does business under a number of other aliases including Olivette Products. Most business seems to be centered in St. Louis, but there are also operations in Overland, Missouri and other hide-outs. The commissary racket induces prisoners to order food and other necessities. Keefe or one of its aliases fills the orders and send them to a prison commissary. There, state workers and prisoners distribute the good to the prisoners. In EVERY case the products are third-rate, overpriced, often stale and often out-of-date. The Pennsylvania Department of Imprisonment doesn't care about such trivial details. It cares only about making as big a profit as possible. James A. Shroyer operates the commissary at the Laurel Highlands prison. Laurel Highlands is one of 2 Pennsylvania prison hospitals. It's where the old, sick and hopeless are sent to die. Since almost all the prisoners in Laurel Highlands suffer from serious ailments, feeding them properly would seem to be vital. Sadly, it isn't. Recently a prisoner complained to the prison commissary that he'd gotten food that was out-of-date. In part the prisoner said, "This is a hospital, for heaven sakes! Patients' health is supposed to be a paramount concern." The prisoner asked Jim Shroyer, the state hack to notify Keefe that it was distributing unsafe foods. Mister Shroyer was unmoved. Instead of doing his duty and protecting the health and interests of his customers, the prisoners, Mister Shroyer defended the profits of the big business. He refused to contact the racketeers. He refused to jeopardize even a nickel of their profits. Instead, he jeopardized prisoners' well-being. One of Jim's sillier remarks was that no one else had complained! This is a typical prison dodge. Its aim is to demean and belittle one man's complaint. How about if you complained to the cops that someone had burglarized your car and the cops replied that they'd received no other complaints of burglarized cars. Would that make sense? Of course, James A. Shroyer wasn't trying to make sense. He was trying to avoid doing his job and to protect the Keefe racket and its profits. Even Mister Shroyer is supposed to act in the best interests of the prisoners. That's the care part of the DOC's meaningless "3 Cs" mantra.