A long running effort to curb price gouging and offer more opportunities in Virginia jails made it out of the House public safety subcommittee Thursday morning.
The bill from Herndon-area Delegate Irene Shin – a Democrat – would require state correctional facilities to use money raised by sales of goods at commissaries on programs for inmates.
During the hearing, Shin brought out a “breakfast pack” basket of items currently available at jails across the state.
“It includes a box of oatmeal, a box of dry milk. 5 packets of hot chocolate...” she said, listing items commonly found in the packs.
Shin said the total for her homemade version of the jail breakfast pack was about 22 dollars. In a Virginia Beach jail commissary? $44.
Taj Mahon-Haft, a former inmate at the New River Valley regional jail and executive director of The Humanization Project, told the committee he and his family spent about $23,000 on phone calls alone during his 14-month stay.
Shin's bill started out with maximum caps on commissary fees, but after working with police and sheriffs' organizations, the version the subcommittee voted on rolled back several law changes over the last decade which created the inflated fee structure. It also requires more funds from commissary fees to go into programs at jails.
But Republican Delegate Tony Wilt, whose Rockingham-area district contains two correctional facilities, expressed concerns about how reducing those fees could impact the services the jails provide.
“It costs something for them to work the program. The hot chocolate doesn’t just show up at the jail's door,” Wilt told the committee.
There were also questions about total income and expenditures from jail commissary programs. According to a state compensation report, they brought in about $43 million in 2022 while spending was at about $27 million. But the report wasn’t specific on expenditures - something Shin’s bill would also address. It calls for more thorough disclosures of spending by state jails.
The bill was voted out along party lines and will face a full committee hearing in the coming weeks.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
