The Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC) has surprised those of us in its custody with yet another commissary price hike. The 50,000 or so people in Georgia state prisons are being charged unprecedented amounts for the only edible food, thanks to ever-steeper markups. We began paying the new prices November 3.
This jump in store prices simply appears to be the result of finalizing the latest contract with Georgia Commissary Suppliers LLC, which is basically another name for longtime vendor Stewart Candy Company. GDC awarded the contract for $28,542,454.99, meaning it paid that amount for items it then turns around and sells to us at a surcharge.
Georgia Prisoners’ Speak, a platform giving a voice to people incarcerated in the state, has published the new price list alongside the statewide commissary contract prices, and the percentage increases since 2024. Filter has also reviewed the new price list directly.
On average, prices for all items rose about 16 percent compared to 2024. But some stayed the same, while prices for some of the most vital commodities more than doubled. GDC did not respond to Filter’s request for comment.
The price for individual sheets of paper has gone up 50 percent. Pads of paper have gone up 59 percent. Envelopes have gone up 62 percent. Erasers have gone up 186 percent, the biggest increase of any item. They’re $1.30 each now. Denture adhesive, Ibuprofen and a couple of the hair and skin products designed for people of color have jumped more than 50 percent, too.
At $4 for 24 tablets, Ibuprofen is nearly double what the price was a year ago and about as high as GDC will be able to push it. For $5 you could just fork over the copay and go to Medical. The price of generic Tylenol has stayed about the same at $1.75 for 20 tablets, but that’s still a 224-percent markup from the contract price. The product representing the biggest GDC markup—833 percent—is Dawn Mist shower caps, which are $0.06 in the contract but $0.56 for us to buy.
Prices for tuna, chicken and spam—some of the only ways to get protein—have barely moved, but most people couldn’t afford them already. I’ll be giving them up if the next price hike raises them much further. Meanwhile GDC markups on those products are between 73 percent and 280 percent.
The price of some soap bars has nearly doubled. Hygiene items in general have seen some of the steepest increases, but that won’t do as much damage as the 28-percent increase on all Little Debbie snack cakes. You might buy two or three shampoos a year, but two boxes of Little Debbie products every week.
Commissary is the only way to eat. We’re allowed quarterly food packages of up to 15 lbs, but with the value capped at $100; you hit the dollar maximum long before the weight maximum.
For commissary our current weekly spending limit is $80. In an average week, I’m probably putting $78 toward food items. Then, as needed, I’ll pay a storeman $100 for $72 worth of food so I can put a few more dollars from that week’s commissary order toward hygiene items without having to resort to the chow hall. For as long as I can afford to, at least.
The poor are just screwed. Some people think the spending limit will go up. At this point I wouldn’t even be surprised if it goes down, to see how hungry we can get before the riots start. Then GDC will say it just goes to show how violent and dangerous we are, and how the state needs to funnel more money toward building maximum-security prisons where we’re all confined to cells 23 hours a day. Or maybe they’re not thinking about us that much. Just moving numbers around until they like what they see.
What will definitely go up? Theft. Debt. Sex work. Suicides and homicides. Illness, both physical and mental. Charity to those less fortunate will go down, since fewer and fewer people will be able to afford it. All while GDC enjoys a 97-percent markup on denture cream.
Images via Anonymous
