Immigrants detained at two federal facilities in California have begun to boycott the price hikes, and in their view, the burdensome prices on companies for items including tampons, coffee and soup.
The Times reviewed the complaint letter and spoke with three inmates involved in the shooting at the California City Detention Facility, about 80 miles east of Bakersfield, and the Golden State Annex in McFarland.
More than 300 detainees are estimated to have signed petitions sent recently to the facility’s administration, according to advocates for the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice.
Both facilities are operated by private prison companies – the California City facility by Tennessee-based CoreCivic and the Golden State Annex by Florida’s GEO Group.
The Times has contacted the Department of Homeland Security, GEO Group and CoreCivic for comment.
Detainees are given some basic items, such as food and soap, for free, but many also buy items from commissary stores that are of better quality or otherwise unavailable. Inmates said shampoo and other hygiene products sometimes ran out for days and that food was scarce or exacerbated diabetes and other health issues.
“The three meals a day provided by CoreCivic at the California City Detention Facility is the bare minimum to keep a person alive,” they wrote. “Because of this, charging inflated prices for necessities is seen as price gouging and profiteering on vulnerable captives who can’t refuse or shop elsewhere.”
Detainees say 8 oz. a pot of Folgers instant coffee costs $18 at the California City center, one instant ramen soup is 75 cents and a box of 40 tampons costs about $21.
At Walmart, the same Folgers coffee costs $8.97, Maruchan chicken ramen soup is 50 cents and 40 Tampax tampons are $12.19.
US Immigration and Customs Enforcement detains immigrants for public purposes. Detention is intended to facilitate the trial but is not intended to punish.
Inmates are paid $1 a day under a volunteer cleaning or cooking program. Many prisoners rely on money from family and friends.
In their letter of complaint, the defendants called the markups an unacceptable business practice with no apparent limit. They said that they consider this situation as an example of market exploitation and economic coercion.
Detainees called for a review of prices by the leaders of the institutions, a comparison of prices with the standards of the prison industry, an immediate reduction of the prices of essential items and the implementation of reasonable price comparisons. They also called for an increase in the portions of daily meals, including food that meets religious requirements, which they say are too small.
In May, the California State Senate passed a bill that would prevent overstocking of products sold in private prisons, limiting prices to 35% above the retailer’s cost. Existing California law already limits such marks in state prisons. The bill is now in Parliament.
Priya Patel, an attorney with the California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, represents people detained at both facilities. He said that during negotiations with law enforcement officers, commissary prices often come up.
“When the prices go up, it has a big impact on people’s lives and it becomes more difficult to fight their crimes,” said Patel.
The partnership is one of the organizations that filed a lawsuit last year alleging inadequate medical care, as well as insufficient clothing, food, water and recreation time at the California City facility, which can hold more than 2,500 people. The case is still ongoing; in March, a U.S. district judge in San Francisco appointed an outside monitor to ensure that the facility provides “constitutionally adequate health care.”
The case explains many issues related to commissions. For example, it says the facility does not provide headphones and tablets, making confidential calls – including calls to lawyers – impossible unless the inmate can purchase headphones from the commissary.
“One inmate has difficulty walking and standing for long periods of time without shoes that provide substantial support,” the complaint states. “He arrived in California City with appropriate footwear to cover his disability, which was approved for housing at a former ICE facility. California City staff confiscated those shoes and instead gave him plastic, orange sandals.”
“A few weeks after the workers stripped him of his shoes, he had seen a doctor in California City,” it continued. “The doctor told him … to buy different shoes from the commissary to deal with the condition of his foot.”
The contract between CoreCivic and ICE for the California City facility, dated April 1, 2025, states that the contractor must provide notice of any rate increases and that “any revenue in excess of that required for the operation of the commissions shall be used solely for the benefit of aliens at this facility.”
Alfredo Parada Calderon, 52, has been held at the California City Center since September. He said commissary prices were already high before they went up in mid-June.
Parada Calderon said he asked the ICE officer why the prices were so high. The officer said he was unaware of the change but that the vendor is the Keefe Group, which supplies commissaries to prisons and immigration detention centers across the country.
The inmates in his dormitory filed a complaint with the commissary, said Parada Calderon. The answer was not clear.
“They blame you for increasing the prices,” he said.
Parada Calderon said her family sends her about $100 a month to spend on groceries, which she spends on packages of cookies, coffee, soups, soap, shampoo, deodorant and chips.
“Enough,” he said. “It’s a bad enough place to be in and you guys are making it worse, not only for me but for my family. Prisoners want to be heard and that’s the only option we have – peaceful protest.”
Tommaso Bardelli, a researcher at New York University who studies mass incarceration, said the families of many incarcerated people are working class and may sacrifice their electric bill or credit card payments to send money to their incarcerated relatives. The money they send no longer pays for small luxuries, he said, because in recent years prisons have reduced the amount spent per person on necessities such as food.
Bardelli published a research article in 2022 about inequality within commissary stores. The commissary is now the difference between starvation and regular food, she said.
