We Gathered to Celebrate
	setting the captives free prison ministry
	HOME

From the Desk of the Maryland Justice Policy Institute, Inc. Excerpts from article printed in April 2002 issue of S.T.C.F. Newsletter: Information relevant to House Bill (HB839) the bill to prohibit the State of Maryland from collecting a commission on prison telephone calls. According to the article Maryland's Comissioner of Corrections, Mr. William Sondervan, provided Del. Joan Cadden with a letter citing the following statistical data: 1. The State of Maryland collected $7,386.610 in telephone money in FY 2001 (up from $6.6 million for FY 2000). 2. Telephone money made up 79.3% of the total FY 2001 income of Inmate Welfare Fund. This fact was allegedly hidden by including both the gross sales and the cost of goods purchased, instead of reporting the net income of the inmate commissary, which is $1,592,688. 3.The total FY 2001 income of the Inmate Welfare Fund (using the commissary's net income) was $9,317,540. In addition to the telephones and the commissary, there was $338,242 in income from "vending machine commissions". 4. The expenditures from the Inmate Welfare Fund account for FY 2001 came to $8,111,864, so that the DOC ended the year with a surplus in this account of $1,205,676. 5. According to Secretary Sondervan, the "expenditures are used to provide various goods and services that benefit the general inmate population." But he then goes on to say that all of these "goods and services are essential to the safe and efficient operation of DOC facilities." If his second statement is true, and I believe that it is, then these items should be paid for by the taxpayers of Maryland from the State's General Fund. The families of the prisoners have no special obligation to pay for the "safe and efficient operation of DOC facilities." DOCs breakdown of the distribution of the Inmate Welfare Fund for FY 2001 is as follows: $2,308,659 or 24.8% for "Chaplains, Nurses, etc. at institutions" $2,129,112 or 22.9% for "Inmate Related Costs" [see DOC note below] $1,741,176 or 18.7% for "Inmate Medical Services (contract/ staff)" $730,513 or 7.9% for Inmate Education" $420,062 or 4.5% for Inmate Grievance Office" $336,315 or 3.6% for "Prisoner Litigation" $314,850 or 3.4% for "Library Services & Books" $232,177 or 2.5% for "inmate Wages" $1,205,676 or 12.9% kept by DOC as a surplus. [DOC Note]: Inmate related Costs includes routine welfare fund expenditures at correctional facilities including (1) Rental of video tapes, (2)Purchases of newspapers, (3)Recreational supplies and equipment. The "inmate Related Costs" amount to about $90 per prisoner per year. According to the December 9, 2001 report of the Legislative Auditor, $518,427 of this $2.1 million was spent on "Recreation Supplies and Movie Rentals:, and another $499,896 was spent on "Gratuities and Welfare Kits", that is stamps, stationary and hygiene supplies provided to indigent inmates. That would leave about $1 million for newspaper and magazine subscriptions and miscellaneous items.Perhaps some of this includes the OLA reported item of $524,023 spent for "Equipment and Repairs". The "Inmate Wages" come to about $10 per prisoner. The gross income from the commissary ($13,163,701) exceeds the "Inmate Wages" by $12,931,524, which means that that the families of the prisoners must be contributing abot that amount to help support their loved ones in prison - not including the $7.3 extra that they are paying into the State for telephone service. Thus the families (are) paying over $20 million to DOC plus the cost of clothing and holiday packages that they send in. For more information contact: Justice Policy Institute, Inc. P.O. Box 1885 Annapolis, MD 21204 Attn: Frank Dunbaugh, Executive Director or click on Link below Note: Let the legislators know how important prison issues are

February 2012 S M T W T F S       1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29