Starting on July 1st, detainees at both the Golden State Annex in McFarland and the California City Detention Center have organized a boycott in response to rising commissary prices.
Detainees have long raised concerns about the cost of commissary items, but they say recent price increases have made it increasingly difficult to afford basic necessities, placing a financial burden on both those in detention and their families.
Miguel Martinez, a detainee who has been housed at the California City Detention Center for four months, said commissary prices there are significantly higher than those he experienced while incarcerated in state prison.
“I have been here for four months, since like every month that I’ve been here prices keep going up without notifying us. It’s just getting out of control. For example, I came from state prison, and when I was in state prison a jar of coffee, for 8 ounces, it was only $8. And when I got here it was $17. Within months, the price went up to $18, and now it’s $19,” said Martinez.
Martinez said other everyday items have seen similar markups. According to him, instant soups cost between 31 and 35 cents in the prison where he was previously housed, compared with 79 cents at the California City Detention Center.
“There is no control, there’s no accountability. We asked for the prices to go down, but they didn’t listen to us. It’s the reason why we started the boycott,” said Martinez.
Martinez said detainees were repeatedly told by guards and facility officials that they had no control over commissary pricing. However, after the boycott began, he noticed that some prices were reduced.
Martinez asserts that items sold in the commissary, such as noodles, were previously 79 cents and reduced to 71 cents.
“But they only did that just to make it seem like they were actually listening,” said Martinez.
Despite those reductions, Martinez said participating in the boycott has been challenging because detainees often rely on commissary purchases to supplement the meals provided by the facility.
“Initially, in talking about the boycott, everybody was complaining about the prices. I can’t afford the prices; my family can’t send me that much money. They send me $50, but it is not enough. But we didn’t eat because the food we eat over here is not enough and we’re still hungry,” said Martinez.
Valeria Suarez, a legal attorney for California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ), noted that in a prior article published by The Los Angeles Times, CoreCivic alleged that its commissary prices are beyond its control, but that the money goes into a welfare fund intended to help detainees. Suarez said the fund is supposed to help provide electronics or recreational activities, but noted that no detainee they have been in contact with has heard of such a fund.
“This is something that has never been shared with folks before. This is part of the boycott, that folks are trying to ask where are the funds actually going? Because if you look at Cal City, there’s extremely limited access to the law library,” said Suarez. “It took a long time for them to be able to access actually those important documents. It’s always very difficult to get copies, things like that, and that they need for their cases. And they are definitely not allowed to have recreation activities,” they continued.
In an effort to aid the boycott against CoreCivic’s rising commissary prices, Suarez also remarked that CCIJ attorneys advocate for detainees by reaching out to the United States’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and CoreCivic officials and by ensuring the testimony of detainees is being shared.
To keep the boycott going, Martinez said participants have relied on one another by sharing food and other commissary items.
“We try to help each other; don’t worry, I’ll give you some of my soups, some of my noodles, I’ll share some of my coffee, I’ll help you out. We’re just helping each other with the food,” said Martinez.
Martinez also alleged that tensions within the facility have increased since the boycott began. He described one incident in which he says detention staff used excessive force against detainees.
In this particular instance, a fight ensued between a few detainees due to the ongoing stress of commissary prices, deportations, and other factors. Martinez noted that they notified staff of the tensions and hoped they would separate the individuals, only for detention staff to call back up and further escalate the situation.
“So instead of de-escalating the situation one of the higher-ups, called the unit manager, grabbed a detainee by the neck and slammed him on the floor. And all of the officers began pepper spraying on people’s faces, and another officer had a gun and started shooting, not pepper spray but this kind of powder that would neutralize individuals. It was a kind of white powder, and they ended up taking like 30 people to the hole or to the SHU [Security Housing Unit],” said Martinez.
Martinez believes the incident may have been connected to the ongoing boycott.
“We started believing that this is some kind of retaliation for what we are doing with the boycott,” said Martinez.
Suarez highlighted that, due to this incident, the individuals taken into solitary confinement unjustly have begun a hunger strike.
“They have been told that they are going to be there until August 8th, for something that they did not do. So, that is something that continues to happen at Cal City; there is a misuse of solitary confinement, and now those people that are in the SHU have actually just started a hunger strike… Now that they started the hunger strike, they’ve now been threatened to be written up and be given more time in the SHU if they continue their hunger strike,” said Suarez.
As the boycott continues, detainees and advocates say they hope their efforts will bring greater transparency to commissary pricing and improve conditions inside immigration detention facilities. For many participating in the boycott, the movement is not only about the rising cost of basic necessities but also about drawing attention to the financial hardships placed on detainees and their families.
