Mitchell--Legislature should make changes to Keefe Commissary Prison Contracts
State prison canteen contract needs more oversight | The Clarion-Ledger | www.clarionledger.com: www.clarionledger.com/article/20110825/OPINION/108…ion|p
PEER Report 551, issued in June and available to anyone with Internet access, explains that the Mississippi Department of Corrections, without taking bids, “privatized” commissary services four years ago.
The full-service vendor is Keefe Commissary, LLC, a 46-year-old company that is a story unto itself.
Keefe is the Walmart for folks behind bars across America.
The company is a corrections administrator’s dream come true. Keefe not only screens products appropriate to sell in prisons (can’t be formed into weapons or processed into narcotics), but also has specially designed software to track purchases and credit or debit inmate accounts. They do it all. Prison administrators get a sales report and a check.
PEER says it was apparently legal for MDOC to enter the exclusive deal without a bid process because it was an expansion of an existing business deal. PEER does recommend opening the process to other bidders. In his written response to the PEER study, MDOC Commissioner Christopher Epps agrees … in a way.
Specifically, Epps says he wouldn’t be opposed to taking competitive proposals so long as proposals were only allowed from companies with the same size, stature and experience as Keefe. (There don’t appear to be any.)
Pricing is another area.
The PEER report pulls no punches: “MDOC cannot assure that Keefe charges inmates and their families reasonable prices for commissary items.”
The actual contract calls for Keefe to use “the average of convenience store prices” and gives Epps veto authority over increases, but PEER said none of this is documented, meaning there simply are no checks. Keefe can charge its shoppers, who, of course, can’t go down the street for a better price, whatever it wants.
In Florida and other states, Keefe’s contract and price lists are published.
Where the money goes is a final topic. The contractual split at public prisons in Mississippi is 29.4 percent on gross sales for MDOC. The remaining 70.6 percent is to go to Keefe, which includes the cost of goods sold. But an actual PEER accounting for three years, shows that out of $24 million in sales, MDOC got a mere $3 million which, by statute, went to the MDOC-managed Inmate Welfare Fund.
And MDOC says the fund is audited and “clean,” but PEER questions some spending, including funds for vehicles.
The burdens inmates and their families face is not a cause of much concern. No lawmaker campaigns on “fairness for prisoners.”
Yet constitutional theory, at least, holds that society is to bear the cost of incarceration and that is improper to seize the assets of criminals if not related to their crimes. Clearly, the state’s contract with Keefe dances close to a line.
Sometimes PEER studies that detect waste, inefficiency or lack of accountability result in reforms. Sometimes they don’t.
It would speak well of the Legislature if it made changes requiring Keefe to be at least as accountable here as in other states where the company has the franchise.
#Mississippi #MDOC #Keefe #Commissary #LLC #prisons #crime #public #safety #state #contracts #spending #PEER #Christopher #Epps
Dear MCCS
Can you please think about the people that live on or near the North Side of Camp Pendleton?
I don’t have to go anywhere today, so I was going to do laundry and go buy a few household items. However, the freaking commissary in San Onofre is closed.
Why the hell is the commissary closed on Mondays?
I honestly don’t wanna drive all the way to the other side of base to go to the bigger one in Del Mar, because the money I save there will make no difference if I count the gas to take me there. Buying food from Stater Bros is cheaper than the commissary, but even Walmart can’t beat the prices on household items that are sold there. I also need to go to the car wash on Basilone to get quarters for laundry and vacuum the car (no need for a wash since it rained yesterday).
But again, this is all an INCONVENIENCE because there is no point in wasting gas because the SAN ONOFRE COMMISSARY IS CLOSED!
GAAHHHHHH. You guys just make my head hurt sometimes.
Sincerely,
A very annoyed Meesh
As a Military Wife, you learn that some things are just inevitable.
Like your husband demanding he get his weekly hair cut even when you’re on leave (Is that just my husband? Yeah? I didn’t think so.)
Deployments, and the fact they never have a set departure / arrival date.
ID Checks at the Gates.
Nasty wives who wear their husbands rank.
And worst of all…..
SHOPPING AT THE COMMISSARY ON PAY DAY!
No matter how hard you try to avoid it, no matter how many days ahead of time you shop. You will inevitably NEED to go to the Commissary on pay day. You may as well learn to embrace it.
At the very least, accept your fate of hideously long lines, screaming children, and poorly stocked shelves. Just remember to tip your bagger, and that you’re not allowed to discipline other people’s Military Brats, no matter how horrible they are being.
i hate getting hit on, but this time was funny.
The commissary is the mess. This old guy was funny. ((I had my deployment sweater on))some young guy comes up 2 me & was lik damn, I have to back off? & the old guy I guess heard & said “clearly didn’t u read her jacket & by the ring on her hand u have no chance” lmao! Made my dayOne heck of a grocery list...
A little confession: I don’t shop on base. I don’t shop at the commissary. Something about the fact that there is a dress code and they tell you what line to stand in…{I would never dress inappropriately to go grocery shopping but I want the ability to wear flip flops and a tube top if I ever felt like it, darn it.}
The best way to get me to shop at the commissary? Move me to a third world country that has no (affordable) dairy and tell me I can fill out my grocery list in my PJ’s.
We were just told that our first food shipment will arrive when we will-which means that we need to fill out our first food request (I don’t know what the list is actually called) in July. So, prior to getting to the country and prior to figuring out exactly what we will need and how long food lasts (we have heard rumors about the humidity molding everything very quickly!), we have to put together a list of food to last us through Thanksgiving. Yikes.
I have never felt so anxious about filling out a grocery list! I know we won’t go hungry and I am pretty flexible about what I can/will eat (I could eat rice for every meal and be a happy camper…) but I don’t want to be forever remember as the family who had to borrow butter for our Thanksgiving rolls!
{Image source: grahamyelton.com via grahamyelton on Pinterest}
