Thread by @conarck

Private companies are doing more business than ever in Florida state's prison system. This doesn’t usually work out well for inmates and their loved ones, who are bearing record-high costs associated with incarceration. (1/11)

Inmate canteens were privatized in 2003. The DOC's dealings with Securus/JPay date back to 2005. But in recent years, contracts have expanded, and the FDC is bringing in more $ than ever from the commissions worked into them. (2/11) jacksonville.com/news/20180601/…

JPay — headquartered in Florida — controls emailing and multimedia tablets, video visitation, and most importantly: inmate banking accounts, used by inmates to buy virtually everything in prison. (3/11)

The DOC takes a $2.75 cut on every bank transfer. That’s up from $2.50 last year. The commission started out as low as $1. Here’s what the trend line looks like for commissions from the Securus contract. (Securus also controls the phones). (4/11)

The commissions from this contract are retained by the DOC for an administrative trust fund, which has been used to do everything from pay wages to settle whistleblower lawsuits [via @MaryEllenKlas] (5/11)
miamiherald.com/news/state/flo…

Using their JPay accounts, inmate can purchase items from another company: Trinity, which runs the commissary. That contract is also generating more $ than ever. This revenue ($35-37M a year) flows into the state’s General Fund. (6/11)
jacksonville.com/news/20181221/…

Inmates don't have any choice but to go through the canteen. But guards, who do have a choice, buy their own goods from a separate canteen — with cheaper prices. The proceeds are used to fund employee perks, like holiday luncheons. (7/11)

JPay’s expansion into the state prison system has hit inmates hard. The state abandoned its MP3 player contract with Access, owned by its old canteen vendor. Inmates had purchased $11.3M of MP3s and players. They lost everything. (8/11) jacksonville.com/news/20180808/…

Interestingly, the DOC had made only $1.4 million in commissions over 7 years with the Access MP3 program. It brings in nearly $4 million per year on JPay commissions, which are likely to continue rising as inmates transfer more funds for new services. (9/11)

I spent a great deal of time reporting on these contracts, companies and the associated financial incentives in 2018. Reader feedback like this is why: (10/11)

I know it matters a great deal to the state’s incarcerated people and their families. They feel trapped dealing with a monopoly, and a good deal of them can’t afford to pay. (11/11)