San Diego County inmates and their families spend millions of dollars a year on telephone calls and merchandise from jail commissaries. Breakfast gift packs are $14.99. A See’s Candies peanut butter egg goes for $6.99. A 15-minute phone call runs almost $5. Last year more than $6 million in profit was raised through these phone calls and commissary sales at the county’s seven detention centers. The profits go into a special “inmate welfare” fund created to improve the quality of life behind bars, help rehabilitate inmates and keep them from returning to jail after release. Records show that millions of those dollars also pay for county staff and jail operations, and millions more is saved in a reserve fund that has grown to almost double the amount raised from inmates each year. When an audit recommended changes to how the inmate welfare fund is implemented, the sheriff’s office balked at a suggestion meant to increase public input. https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2019-04-21/money-meant-for-inmate-welfare-spent-on-staff-sheriffs-expenses
San Diego County inmates and their families spend millions of dollars a year on telephone calls and merchandise from jail commissaries. Breakfast gift packs are $14.99. A See’s Candies peanut butter egg goes for $6.99. A 15-minute phone call runs almost $5.
Last year more than $6 million in profit was raised through these phone calls and commissary sales at the county’s seven detention centers. The profits go into a special “inmate welfare” fund created to improve the quality of life behind bars, help rehabilitate inmates and keep them from returning to jail after release.
Records show that millions of those dollars also pay for county staff and jail operations, and millions more is saved in a reserve fund that has grown to almost double the amount raised from inmates each year.
When an audit recommended changes to how the inmate welfare fund is implemented, the sheriff’s office balked at a suggestion meant to increase public input.
https://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/watchdog/story/2019-04-21/money-meant-for-inmate-welfare-spent-on-staff-sheriffs-expenses