#Florida Prison

[louis-sj]

Convict in Florida Prison Blues

Florida Prison cell and Transport Chains

Sliding solid door. Maximum security cell.

Striped pants. Two person cell.

Back of shirt.

[politijohn]

Source

Source

[mostlysignssomeportents]

Greedflation, but for prisoners

I'm touring my new, nationally bestselling novel The Bezzle! Catch me TOMORROW (Apr 21) in TORINO, then Marin County (Apr 27), Winnipeg (May 2), Calgary (May 3), Vancouver (May 4), and beyond!

Today in "Capitalists Hate Capitalism" news: The Appeal has published the first-ever survey of national prison commissary prices, revealing just how badly the prison profiteer system gouges American's all-time, world-record-beating prison population:

https://theappeal.org/locked-in-priced-out-how-much-prison-commissary-prices/

Like every aspect of the prison contracting system, prison commissaries – the stores where prisoners are able to buy food, sundries, toiletries and other items – are dominated by private equity funds that have bought out all the smaller players. Private equity deals always involve gigantic amounts of debt (typically, the first thing PE companies do after acquiring a company is to borrow heavily against it and then pay themselves a hefty dividend).

The need to service this debt drives PE companies to cut quality, squeeze suppliers, and raise prices. That's why PE loves to buy up the kinds of businesses you must spend your money at: dialysis clinics, long-term care facilities, funeral homes, and prison services.

Prisoners, after all, are a literal captive market. Unlike capitalist ventures, which involve the risk that a customer will take their business elsewhere, prison commissary providers have the most airtight of monopolies over prisoners' shopping.

Not that prisoners have a lot of money to spend. The 13th Amendment specifically allows for the enslavement of convicted criminals, and so even though many prisoners are subject to forced labor, they aren't necessarily paid for it:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/02/captive-customers/#guillotine-watch

Six states ban paying prisoners anything. North Carolina caps prisoners' pay at one dollar per day. Nationally, prisoners earn $0.52/hour, while producing $11b/year in goods and services:

https://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/2024/0324bowman.html

So there's a double cruelty to prison commissary price-gouging. Prisoners earn far less than any other kind of worker, and they pay vastly inflated prices for the necessities of life. There's also a triple cruelty: prisoners' families – deprived of an incarcerated breadwinner's earnings – are called upon to make up the difference for jacked up commissary prices out of their own strained finances.

So what does prison profiteering look like, in dollars and sense? Here's the first-of-its-kind database tracking the costs of food, hygiene items and religious items in 46 states:

https://theappeal.org/commissary-database/

Prisoners rely heavily on commissaries for food. Prisons serve spoiled, inedible food, and often there isn't enough to go around – prisoners who rely on the food provided by their institutions literally starve. This is worst in prisons where private equity funds have taken over the cafeteria, which is inevitable accompanied by swingeing cuts to food quality and portions:

https://theappeal.org/prison-food-virginia-fluvanna-correctional-center/

So you have one private equity fund starving prisoners, and another that's gouging them on food. Or sometimes it's the same company. Keefe Group, owned by HIG Capital, provides commissaries to prisons whose cafeterias are managed by other HIG Capital portfolio companies like Trinity Services Group. HIG also owns the prison health-care company Wellpath – so if they give you food poisoning, they get paid twice.

Wellpath delivers "grossly inadequate healthcare":

https://theappeal.org/massachusetts-prisons-wellpath-dentures-teeth/

And Trinity serves "meager portions of inedible food":

https://theappeal.org/clayton-county-jail-sheriff-election/

When prison commissaries gouge on food, no part of the inventory is spared, even the cheapest items. In Florida, a packet of ramen costs $1.06, 300% more inside the prison than it does at the Target down the street:

https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24444312-fl_doc_combined_commissary_lists#document/p6/a2444049

America's prisoners aren't just hungry, they're also hot. The climate emergency is sending temperatures in America's largely un-air-conditioned prisons soaring to dangerous levels. Commissaries capitalize on this, too: an 8" fan costs $40 in Delaware's Sussex Correctional Institution. In Georgia, that fan goes for $32 (but prisoners are not paid for their labor in Georgia pens). And in scorching Texas, the commissary raised the price of water by 50% last summer:

https://www.tpr.org/criminal-justice/2023-07-20/texas-charges-prisoners-50-more-for-water-for-as-heat-wave-continues

Toiletries are also sold at prices that would make an airport gift-shop blush. Need denture adhesive? That's $12.28 in an Idaho pen, triple the retail price. 15% of America's prisoners are over 55. The Keefe Group – sister company to the "grossly inadequate" healthcare company Wellpath – operates that commissary. In Oregon, the commissary charges a 200% markup on hearing-aid batteries. Vermont charges a 500% markup on reading glasses. Imagine spending decades in prison: toothless, blind, and deaf.

Then there's the religious items. Bibles and Christmas cards are surprisingly reasonable, but a Qaran will run you $26 in Vermont, where a Bible is a mere $4.55. Kufi caps – which cost $3 or less in the free world – go for $12 in Indiana prisons. A Virginia prisoner needs to work for 8 hours to earn enough to buy a commissary Ramadan card (you can buy a Christmas card after three hours' labor).

Prison price-gougers are finally facing a comeuppance. California's new BASIC Act caps prison commissary markups at 35% (California commissaries used to charge 63-200% markups):

https://theappeal.org/price-gouging-in-california-prisons-newsom-signature/

Last year, Nevada banned any markup on hygiene items:

https://www.leg.state.nv.us/App/NELIS/REL/82nd2023/Bill/10425/Overview

And prison tech monopolist Securus has been driven to the brink of bankruptcy, thanks to the activism of Worth Rises and its coalition partners:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/08/money-talks/

When someone tells you who they are, believe them the first time. Prisons show us how businesses would treat us if they could get away with it.

If you'd like an essay-formatted version of this post to read or share, here's a link to it on pluralistic.net, my surveillance-free, ad-free, tracker-free blog:

https://pluralistic.net/2024/04/20/captive-market/#locked-in

[nando161mando]

Florida leaving prisoners to die in the Hurricane

[mus1g4]

Amazing how real role play can be!!

Last weekend with 19 other like-minded men! Florida prison blues worn by an inmate on a maximum security cellblock. Guard isn't too bad either.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Mira Lazine at Erin In The Morning:

In the final days of 2024, a federal judge in Florida’s Northern District issued a ruling rejecting a preliminary injunction against a new Florida Department of Corrections (FDC) policy targeting transgender inmates. This policy, introduced on September 30, 2024, frames gender dysphoria as a “short-term delusion,” restricting access to gender-affirming care, permitting hormones only in “rare instances” deemed constitutionally necessary. The FDC bulletin also suggests psychotropic medications and psychotherapy as sufficient alternatives to medical transition, ignoring widely accepted medical guidelines. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), representing plaintiff Reiyn Keohane, challenged the policy, arguing it strips transgender inmates of essential care and dignity. Under the policy, trans women in Florida prisons are denied access to gender-aligned clothing and grooming standards, with confiscation of canteen items and head shaving mandated for non-compliance. According to the ACLU’s October 2024 complaint, inmates face invasive examinations to assess breast size for bra eligibility, subjecting them to dehumanizing treatment under the guise of policy enforcement. The ACLU sought immediate relief, filing for a preliminary injunction to halt these measures.

In his 23-page decision, Judge Allen Winsor, a Trump appointee with a record of anti-LGBTQ+ rulings, dismissed the injunction request. Winsor’s opinion misgendered Keohane, describing her as “a male who self-identifies as a woman.” He argued that the FDC’s policy does not constitute a blanket ban on hormone therapy, despite evidence showing the policy effectively forces the detransition of hundreds of inmates. Winsor claimed that Keohane, having navigated extensive bureaucratic hurdles to preserve her care, faced no “imminent injury” and therefore did not meet the criteria for emergency relief.

Regarding social accommodations, Winsor acknowledged the harm but dismissed its significance, arguing that denying long hair and gender-appropriate clothing does not rise to the level of “grossly incompetent” care or an Eighth Amendment violation. Misrepresenting the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH) guidelines, Winsor claimed that social transition is not medically necessary and suggested psychotherapy as an adequate alternative. This echoes debunked “conversion therapy” approaches that lack scientific evidence and have been shown to increase risks of self-harm and suicide among transgender individuals. Winsor’s reasoning reflects broader anti-transgender rhetoric typically used in debates about transgender youth but now increasingly applied to adults. The “wait and see” approach for minors, which relies on therapy to suppress gender dysphoria, has long been debunked as ineffective and harmful conversion therapy. Evidence consistently shows that medically necessary care for transgender individuals leads to overwhelmingly positive outcomes, with detransition rates remaining exceedingly low. Laws restricting transgender healthcare, by contrast, have been linked to significant increases in suicide attempts among transgender populations.

Even trans prisoners are entitled to gender-affirming care, and forced detransition of them is morally wrong.

[crippled-peeper]

not anon pretending that the systematic disenfranchisement of disabled poor and black Americans is “anti Biden propaganda” and not just a lived fact for many people

[fuckyeahmarxismleninism]

Sometimes, it helps to take a step back and look at what's happening all at once. As a trans person, I often find myself needing to look away from the daily onslaught of anti-trans policies and rhetoric just to maintain my mental health. But today, I want to highlight three pieces of truly excellent journalism that, when viewed together, illustrate just how relentless the attacks on trans rights have become.

In a single day—December 10, 2024—we saw reporting on:

Worries about the Democrats potentially abandoning trans healthcare protections in the face of Republican attacks

Florida prisons implementing cruel restrictions on trans inmates

Republicans using the must-pass defense bill to strip healthcare from military families' trans kids

Let's look at each of these stories and what they tell us about the state of trans rights in America.

[gwydionmisha]

I have a special dread of what happens to prisoners in major crises like this.

[angelx1992]

[louis-sj]

Florida Prison Blues

The "good" guys (swat_studios and hunter_chase_23 on X) catch the bad guy (Bondage_inmate on X) with contraband. Can they force him to snitch? It looks like some rules are being bent and broken by the guards.

Tucked away in abandoned wing of a Florida prison. Handcuffed to a steel pole, leg irons.

A combat boot in the crotch. No blood, bruises, or trauma showing -- yet. The polished concrete floor will be easy to clean.

Gagged with a black leather glove. Only the two corrupt officers could hear anyway.

How much nutraloaf, skipped meals, and beatings will it take before the prisoner reveals the source of the contraband? The guards have plenty of time, the prisoner isn't going anywhere.

How long will Bondage_inmate last?

ps: The Florida prison is quite real. No AI creation here.

[spermbank-mary]

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by FightToxicPrisons (@fighttoxicprisons)

FL is planning on committing state sanctioned mass murder against the occupants of multiple jails. Please do everything in your power to protect human lives and hold those in power accountable— this is a common atrocity and needs to be given national attention.

Call scripts are provided.

Stop the state culling of human beings under any pretense.

[catsinacottage]

If like me you’ve been extremely spiritually disturbed at the posts stating prisoners have not been evacuated HERE is some official information from the state of Florida about evacuation of incarcerated people

[cheerfullycatholic]

Genuinely wtf

[moonmausoleum]

Ghostly Whispers in the Dry Tortugas Fort Jefferson

The old prison, Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park is thought to be haunted by someone who was imprisoned there. Most fingers point to Dr. Samuel Mudd, imprisoned as a co-conspirator of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. 

The old prison, Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas National Park is thought to be haunted by someone who was imprisoned there. Most fingers point to Dr. Samuel Mudd, imprisoned as a co-conspirator of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.  In the turquoise expanse of the Gulf of Mexico, where the sun-drenched waters meet the vast sky, lies a cluster of islands known as the Dry Tortugas named…

[mus1g4]

Was Michael Bargo wearing anything under his jumpsuit during his first sentencing in 2013? Are they allowed to wear underwear?

Michael Bargo is one of the youngest convicts on Florida's Death Row. He was "Ringleader" of a group that killed an acquaintance just to see what it would feel like to kill someone!

Bargo was rarely photographed in a jumpsuit, but I did find these photos of him wearing an orange, Bob Barker ValueLine jumpsuit. (These jumpsuits are often used for high security inmates and have no pockets or collars and no elastic at the waistband.)

Once he was sentenced, his initial Florida Death Row mugshots were definitely without a tee shirt.

Later court appearances, he was seen both with and without tee shirts.

His last death row mugshot shows prison issued tee shirt.

To be honest, most jails and prisons will require at least boxers when inmates are in public.

In jail and prison he probably was issued boxers and it is anyone's guess if he wore them!

Question about Michael Bargo