LINCOLN- All over the country, prison commissaries are raising the prices of basic commodities, like deodorant and fresh fruit, to account for decades-high inflation rates. These items, which are not provided by the Nebraska Department of Corrections, are being made harder to purchase by families already struggling with high inflation.

State Sen. Terrell McKinney said that these raised prices are concerning, and that he plans to double down on seeking a legislative response.

Sen. McKinney previously attempted to limit what prisons could charge inmates, but did not gain the necessary support in the Legislature. "Individuals are having to rely more so on family to make up for rising costs of goods they need inside," stated the Senator, "Inflation affects people inside and outside of prison, it's a fact you can't deny."

Wanda Bertram, communications strategist for the Prison Policy Initiative, shares a similar sentiment. Bertram believes that prison commissaries that charge inmates for essential items instead of providing them for free is placing an unnecessary burden on not only the inmates, but their families too.

"The prison and jail system always has the power to play hardball with the provider to get prices down in order to make items more affordable for the consumers," said Bertram, "but a prison system that's already content with foisting the cost of things like over-the-counter medication onto incarcerated people probably is not going to work very hard to do that."

However, Shannon Ross, executive director of The Community, a nonprofit focused on inmate re-entry, stated that inflation isn't the only problem in prisons. Low inmate wages, she stated, are one of the reasons why inmates can't afford these commissary items. In Nebraska, inmates who work while incarcerated make between $1.21 and $4.72 a day, well below the state's minimum wage.

Many inmates rely on food from the prison commissary to provide more satisfying meals than what they are served by the state. Inmates have also reportedly had trouble finding fresh fruits and vegetables, often being served unhealthy or outright rotten food by the state.

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