The fund, which receives millions of dollars each year, used to provide things like gym equipment and religious materials. Those days are long gone.
By Dennis “Abbadunamis” Mintun
[This article was originally published at the Prison Journalism Project and appears here with author’s permission]
In Idaho state prisons, a certain percentage of the cost of every commissary purchase and phone call goes into the inmate management fund. This percentage is based on contract agreements with commissary and communications vendors such as Keefe and IC Solutions. These kinds of funds, common in prisons and jails across the country, are typically used to benefit the welfare of incarcerated people.
How the funds are used is determined by each facility, based on needs and the available budget appropriation for the year. For as long as I’ve been inside, informational sheets explaining how these funds were spent were posted in common areas like the gym and chow hall. According to past sheets, the money was spent on educational and religious supplies, gym equipment and even cable and weekend movies.
In the past, residents have felt that the money helped make our lives a little better. But in the past few years, things appear to have changed.
I am a chapel group facilitator here at Idaho State Correctional Institution, and chaplains have said that they no longer receive money from the fund for materials such as ceremonial items, books or even photocopies.
I also work in the library, where we need a new date rubber stamp, but for now we have to hand-write the due date on the slip inside the book. The library used to have around 20 newspaper and magazine subscriptions. Those have dwindled to only six.
The gym seldom gets anything new anymore and most of the equipment is in pretty bad shape. I have a back injury and can’t work out, but those who do tell me that the exercise bikes are broken and the weight machines have rusted and broken cables.
As for TV and movies, we used to have channels like SyFy, Comedy Central, TCM, TBS, AMC and ESPN, among others, but the available channels today are limited. The movies on offer — films like “Home Alone,” “Deadpool” and “Batman Begins” — are not exactly recent. Although we were recently told we can “donate” movies, we were not told how to do so. Commissary does not sell movies of any kind.
In a statement to PJP, a state prison system spokesperson said that the current commissary contract stipulates that Keefe pay the Idaho Department of Corrections a minimum annual guarantee of roughly $1.2 million, which is deposited into the inmate management fund. However, the spokesperson said that there are “no stipulations on how the funds are used.”
She added that each “facility is appropriated a portion of the funds available in the IMF, and has the discretion on how to use these funds. They prioritize the use of the funds for resident activities and enrichment, including religious services and supplies.”
According to a public records request obtained by PJP contributor Patrick Irving, the IDOC received about $4 million from commissary sales in 2023. Commissions received from phone calls amounted to about $1.4 million.
Wanting to know how the money is being spent, I submitted my own public records request in February 2024. After months of delays — and twice being informed I was “on the list” to receive the information — I was told in September that this information was “exempt from disclosure.” I could appeal the decision to the state court, but it would cost me $250. With an income of 40 cents an hour, I couldn’t afford that.
I attempted to go another route. I talked to two different officers, who provided some information but were not willing to be named. The money, the officers said, now goes into a “general fund” that is used “wherever it is needed,” which includes paying officers for working in the education building, gym and chapel.
The spokesperson confirmed this, stating that inmate management fund money has been used to pay personnel costs associated with special projects that support the operation and maintenance of the IDOC.
In June 2024, I wrote to my prison’s director, asking for a full expense breakdown, but received no response, so I sent a letter to the deputy warden of operations, but he referred me back to the first staff member I had asked about getting the info.
We are forced to contribute to this fund and it’s frustrating that I can’t even find out where the money is going. This goes beyond “taxation without representation.” It feels like my money is being stolen.