“You can send Melissa Hanson money” in jail, John observes—then adds this caveat: “Or at least Federal Reserve Notes. Here’s a link with the procedure(s).”
But there are more caveats. I’ve previously mentioned Rick Fisk and his scathing, knowledgeable commentary on the USSA’s Injustice System and its cages. I have learned immensely from Mr. Fisk, particularly that all “conveniences” in a prison or jail benefit the institution, not the inmates. The latter are merely sheep to be sheared, incredibly enough; Leviathan is the most merciless of beasts, and the more vulnerable you are, the more Satanic government savages you, as Mr. Fisk explains:
…this is the way that county jails allow people to provide money to their family and friends in jail. Some counties have electronic systems where you can deposit money into their account. This is referred to as “putting money on their books.”
And as you can see from the link [John provided]…, it’s really archaic in this particular county (other counties are like this) as they will accept cash in person or money orders sent by post. The money is never given to the inmate directly. It’s put on account and they only find out about this if they talk to a family member on the phone or when they order commissary items. It’s absurd, but to find out your balance beforehand, you have to send a ‘kite’ – some sort of paper note directed toward the commissary or book keeping office – to let you know how much money is on your books. If you order from the commissary, the receipt will tell you how much is left on account after the purchase.
The jails typically take out some sort of fee where they can, to pay for ‘processing.’
Can you imagine anything more heartless than robbing folks who haven’t diddly-squat to begin with?
If the person is a pre-trial detainee, that’s the only fee taken out of their account other than what they directly spend on commissary or ‘canteen.’
If the person has been sentenced and has to pay restitution or court fees, then a certain amount up to 10% can be taken out to pay down that debt.
I blogged a few days about a gofundme to benefit Ms. Hanson; on the whole, I’ll send my donation there.
Prisons are varied in their operations but most still accept money orders – but it’s never advised to do it this way because it sometimes takes months to process.
Texas takes this abuse to new depths:
In TX, to get non-chronic medical care, an inmate has to pay a $100 insurance premium per year. If somebody puts money on your books 10% will be taken out for the medical, restitution and court fees. That can increase if you’re behind. Some people get money sent to them but it can sometimes all get eaten up. Let’s say you’re indigent. You get a certain number of stamps and envelopes [for “free”] so you can send letters each month. If you ever get money, say somebody sends you some and you’ve been inside for 10 years, the state decides you’re not indigent anymore and every stamp and envelope you received previously has to now be paid. It’s possible that you won’t get a penny of what was put on your books.
The way around this is to order an ‘e-commerce’ order for the inmate. So he may not get to pick the items but at least they’ll get something.
In most states JPay is the vendor for putting funds on an inmate’s books for prisons. The feds have another system. Keeping track of it all and finding out which system applies for your person is a bit of a nightmare.
Of course. Why make anything easy for “criminals” and their families?
[Adopt an Inmate] keeps a resource page that tries to keep up with changes but it’s hard to keep up with.
And as you can imagine, what happens is that since inmates cannot hold cash, commissary items themselves become currency. Stamps, being the smallest item and also having a ‘fixed’ price (the going rate for a forever stamp is 58 cents now) are a very popular currency. Prisons are always trying to keep this from happening. In TDCJ, you have to write your id number on the back of every stamp while you’re at the commissary window. This is so that if you’re caught with a stamp that has another inmate’s number you can be charged with theft or dealing in contraband, charges that can result in months in solitary and revoked parole. As with anything they try to institute though, there are easy workarounds. Because most jail and prison officials are focused on the wrong things and they’re generally stupid people.
Apart from stamps, ramen soups are the next popular item used as currency. Depending on the system, ramen noodles, about 9-11 cents a package in the free world when purchased in bulk, run from 25 cents to 95 cents. Prisons and jails make a fortune in gouging inmates and their families for ramen noodles alone. But they’re like money inside. People buy services, tattoos, drugs, bets and other commissary items with ramen noodles. It would be fascinating if some Austrian economist would study jail and prison economy. I bet they’d learn a lot that could be applied to free world economics.
Oh, they also eat them right out of the package. That recent meme where the commentator is sprinkling the seasoning right over the uncooked noodles and biting off a hunk, is a prison thing.
May God have mercy on a country whose serfs not only tolerate but vote for more of these atrocities under the guise of “law and order.”
12:50 pm on December 22, 2021
