An inmate commissary account is a trust fund that the prison or jail opens in an incarcerated person’s name to hold money deposited by family, friends, or other outside sources, so that person can buy food, hygiene items, and other approved goods from the facility’s store. Physical cash isn’t allowed inside, so this account is the only way someone in custody can hold and spend personal funds. Federal regulation 28 CFR § 506.1 establishes the account for people in Bureau of Prisons custody, and state departments of corrections run their own equivalents under state law.1eCFR. 28 CFR Part 506 – Inmate Commissary Account
Treat it as a no-frills ledger with no card and no checkbook. Deposits come in from outside. Commissary purchases, medical co-pays, court-ordered restitution, and in many state systems a cost-of-incarceration charge come off automatically. Whatever is left is what the person can actually spend on their assigned shopping day.
What Commissary Sells
Commissary is the only store an incarcerated person can shop at, and the range of goods is broader than most people expect. Federal commissary lists include ramen, tuna, summer sausage, coffee, cheese, rice, oatmeal, peanuts, and candy. Hygiene stock covers toothpaste, deodorant, soap, dental floss, and over-the-counter medications like ibuprofen and acetaminophen. Many facilities also carry sweatpants and socks, stationery and envelopes, and electronics such as MP3 players and watches.2Federal Bureau of Prisons. Commissary Shopping List – Facility ENG
Prices at federal commissaries run from around $0.30 for a pack of ramen to roughly $88 for an MP3 player. A bar of soap is about $1.70, a tube of toothpaste around $5, a pair of sweatpants around $17.3Federal Bureau of Prisons. Commissary List – FPC Lexington Prices change without notice and vary between facilities, and all sales are final. Many modern facilities also let funds pay for tablet messaging and music streaming.
How to Send Money
To send money, you need the person’s full committed name (the legal name on file, not a nickname) and their unique ID number. In the federal system that’s an eight-digit BOP register number; state systems use DOC numbers or similar.4Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using MoneyGram The BOP’s online inmate locator can confirm a register number and current facility, and most state corrections departments offer the same kind of lookup.
You don’t need a facility-specific routing code for federal deposits. The BOP uses a single universal receive code (7932 for MoneyGram, for example) regardless of which institution houses the person.4Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using MoneyGram
Electronic Transfer
The fastest route is an electronic transfer through Western Union or MoneyGram, both of which have arrangements with the federal Bureau of Prisons. The BOP processes Western Union transfers seven days a week, and funds sent between 7:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Eastern Time typically post within two to four hours.5Federal Bureau of Prisons. Sending Funds Using Western Union State facilities often contract with platforms like JPay (now a Securus subsidiary) or Access Corrections. Service fees commonly range from about $2 to $9 per deposit, with larger transfers generally carrying higher fees.
Mailed Money Order
Federal regulation requires that mailed deposits be a money order made out to the inmate’s full name and complete register number. Personal checks aren’t accepted and are returned to the sender if a return address is included.1eCFR. 28 CFR Part 506 – Inmate Commissary Account Around 45 states still accept mailed money orders, sometimes sent to the department of corrections and sometimes routed through a third-party vendor. The envelope should contain nothing except the money order and any required deposit slip; enclosures intended for the inmate may be discarded.
The trade-off for skipping electronic fees is time. Some vendor terms disclose processing windows of up to ten business days for mailed money orders, roughly two weeks before funds appear.
Lobby Kiosks
Many facilities have kiosks in the visitor lobby that accept cash or debit card deposits. Fees are generally lower than online transfers, often $0 to $3, and funds usually post quickly since the deposit happens on-site.
Deductions That Shrink the Deposit
Money going in does not equal money available to spend. This is the piece families most often don’t see coming. Deposit $100 and the person inside may only see $60 or $70 on the commissary books.
Federal Deductions Through the IFRP
In the federal system, the Inmate Financial Responsibility Program sets a payment schedule for anyone who owes court-ordered fines, restitution, or special assessments. The minimum is $25 per quarter, though it can be higher depending on obligations and resources.6Federal Bureau of Prisons. Inmate Financial Responsibility Program People working UNICOR jobs are expected to allot at least 50% of their monthly pay toward their obligations.
The BOP excludes $75 per month from IFRP calculations so the person can keep phone access. At each program review, staff look at total deposits over the past six months, subtract IFRP payments already made and the $75 monthly phone allowance, and can apply any remaining balance toward the payment plan. A balance of $5,000 or more triggers a requirement to pay everything above that threshold toward outstanding obligations.7Regulations.gov. Inmate Financial Responsibility Program Refusing to participate costs privileges, including reduced commissary access and lower-priority housing.
State Deductions
State systems often take percentage-based deductions from every deposit. Categories can include crime victim compensation funds, cost of incarceration charges, family support, court filing fees, and mandatory release savings accounts. Percentages and categories vary widely by state. Some states distinguish between deductions from wages earned inside and deductions from outside deposits sent by family, and in certain jurisdictions courts have held that gifts from family can’t be garnished under statutes that only authorize deductions from “income.”
Medical Co-Payments
Federal inmates pay a $2 co-payment for each health care visit they initiate. Emergency care, chronic condition follow-ups, and staff-initiated appointments are exempt.8Federal Bureau of Prisons. Inmate Copayment Program State co-pays usually fall in the $2 to $5 range. These come straight off the trust fund balance.
Spending Limits and Shopping Days
Facilities cap how much a person can spend over a given period. One federal commissary list sets the cap at $360 per month, with sub-limits on specific items like postage stamps (around $9.80 per week).3Federal Bureau of Prisons. Commissary List – FPC Lexington Limits vary by institution. State facilities typically set their own, often in the $50 to $150 per week range.
Shopping happens on a set schedule, usually one designated day per housing unit. Miss your day and you wait for the next cycle. Disciplinary status matters too: people in segregation or restrictive housing are often limited to basic hygiene items like soap and toothpaste, if they can shop at all, and serious infractions can suspend commissary privileges entirely.
Transfers and Release
When someone moves between facilities, the trust fund balance follows them. The business office at the sending institution coordinates an electronic transfer to the receiving facility’s ledger, which can take several business days before the person has access at the new location.
At release, the remaining balance is returned. Most systems issue it on a prepaid debit card, though some still use paper checks. In the federal system, departing inmates may also receive a release gratuity (sometimes called “gate money”) of up to $500 under 18 U.S.C. § 3624(d), with the actual amount depending on the person’s financial situation and trust fund balance. State gate money ranges widely, from as little as $15 to $200 depending on jurisdiction and length of sentence.
Watch the Release Card Fees
The prepaid cards used at release are not ordinary bank cards. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau found that JPay, one of the largest providers, engaged in unfair and deceptive practices by imposing fees on release cardholders who had no choice in receiving the card, and ordered JPay to pay $4 million in consumer redress and a $2 million civil penalty.9Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. JPay LLC Enforcement Action
Release cards can carry monthly maintenance fees, inactivity charges, ATM withdrawal fees, and balance inquiry fees. A small remaining balance can be eaten up by fees within months. The practical move is to clear the card quickly. Some card agreements allow fee-free account closure within a short window, typically seven to ten days after activation. After that, fees start accumulating. Where possible, transfer the funds to a personal bank account or withdraw the full balance in cash at a bank branch instead of using ATMs, which add their own fees on top.
Practical Tips for People Sending Money
A few things the system doesn’t go out of its way to explain:
Ask the incarcerated person what deductions are coming off their account before you decide how much to send. A $50 deposit that loses 25% only lands about $37 on the commissary books. Knowing the rate lets you plan.
Compare fees across methods. Electronic platforms are fast but can charge $5 to $9 per transaction. Monthly sends at that rate add $60 to $108 a year. A mailed money order costs the price of the money order (typically under $2 at the post office for amounts under $500) plus postage, but processing takes much longer.
Double-check every digit of the ID number before submitting. A wrong number can route funds to the wrong person or cause a rejection. Rejected deposits may be returned, but processing fees usually aren’t refunded. The BOP has said details for handling rejected funds live in internal institutional policy rather than published regulation, so there is no guaranteed public timeline for a refund.10Federal Register. Inmate Commissary Account Deposit Procedures
Keep records of every deposit. Save confirmation numbers for electronic transfers and copies of money orders. If a deposit doesn’t post, you’ll need the documentation to trace it.