Missouri Prison Reform received the following message from a resident of a Missouri Prison.
The Canteen is a retail process. Items are orders at a price marked up then sold. Our questions and also one the States Auditor should be asking is why is our canteen fund always empty? Why don’t we have basic items like Paper, pens, pencils etc? We buy an item once then never again, the excuse is we can’t spend until this date when we get our budget money. To be honest, the canteen fund should always have money where it is going or should I say who’s pocket we are not stupid. We request the financial statements for Canteen and will get denied the request. For instance things like this typewriter sold on Canteen at over 500 dollars you can buy online or at Walmart for 99 dollars. They have the 2.23 Correctional ribbon on the canteen for over 14.00 dollars. Why are we (people incarcerated) and our families being the subject of such overcharging because we have no choice but to buy from the canteen so they think they can charge us whatever. Our canteen here at JCCC is always empty! Someone needs to audit the canteen fund here. Toby Gregory
