By KEN de la BASTIDE
Starting a couple of weeks ago, inmates at the Howard County Criminal Justice Center saw an increase in the commissary items they are able to purchase.
Keefe Commissary Network installed kiosks in every pod of cells that allows inmates to order the commissary items via a computerized system.
Howard County is believed to be the first county jail using the system, which is being used by the Indiana Department of Correction in state facilities.
When an inmate is booked into the jail, the pod officer inputs the inmate’s name into the system and assigns a password.
There is a kiosk located in the lobby of the jail that allows family members and friends to deposit funds into an inmates’ account. Cash or credit cards can be used to make deposits.
By using the kiosk, it frees up the correctional officers from having to collect the funds.
“We don’t have to worry about taking in all that cash,” Lt. Robin Byers, assistant jail commander, said. “The correctional officers can monitor the safety of the facility and pay more attention to their normal duties.”
Inmates can order commissary items 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The computerized system tells the inmate how much money is available in his/her account and also what items have been ordered.
Sgt. Terry Sokol, who oversees the commissary, said the number of items available to the inmates has doubled from the previous number of 268 items.
The computerized system is also a time saver for Sokol.
Prior to the new system, inmates filled out a printed form that Sokol would check weekly and scan the order into the computer system. Orders were filled by the jail staff.
Sokol said now the orders are transmitted by computer to Keefe on Monday and shipped to the jail already sorted by inmate. Jail staff then delivers the items to each pod on Thursday.
The computerized ordering system saves Sokol five hours of work just to check and scan the orders.
Sokol said when delivery takes place the pod officer checks the items received by an inmate and the inmate signs a receipt.
“Candy and snack foods are the most popular items,” Sokol said. “An inmate can’t order more than $75 a week in snack foods.”
The money received goes into the county’s bank account and a weekly check is sent to Keefe for the purchase price of the items. The county receives 10 percent of the amount sold.
Those funds are placed in a special commissary account that can be used by the sheriff to purchase equipment or pay for training.
Byers said the computer screen can be programmed so that inmates who are diabetic can’t order certain items or for disciplinary reasons can’t place a commissary order.
“This is set up to benefit the inmates,” Sokol said. “We are thinking about putting phone cards into the system, but have to find one an inmate can use after being released.”
Byers said the new system should also result in a reduction in the number of grievances filed weekly by inmates with commissary problems.
