The April meeting of the Texas prison board included a presentation on what staff is doing to reduce the amount of contraband getting to inmates.
Prison board chairman Eric Nichols of Austin, a former federal and state prosecutor, says addressing what he said is “the scourge, the scourge, the scourge of contraband that affects our system” “is kind of a whack-a-mole aspect of this process. In other words, cutting off one source of supply only to see those who want to inject this crud into our system find another way of getting it in.”
The state prison system’s inspector general, Lance Coleman, says prices that inmates are paying are rising.
Coleman said prepaid cell phones that retail for $49 dollars are being purchased by inmates for $1,000 dollars. Prices inside prisons for androids and iPhones are $3,500 dollars.
A carton of menthol cigarettes that retails for $116 goes for $2,500 dollars.
A $15 dollar vape pen goes for $500 on the inside, and a prescription pill that retails between $1 and $3 each goes for $50 to $80 apiece inside a prison.
Coleman also shared the results of investigations at two prisons, one of which led to the arrest of a prison employee. That led the prison board’s vice chair, former state district judge and former Dallas County district attorney Faith Johnson to tell Coleman to “arrest as many people as possible” “because we don’t want it (contraband) and we want them to stop it, and we will no longer tolerate it. It’s been going long enough. And we do not agree with it. And we want them prosecuted. And you got our permission to continue to do what you’re doing.”
Click below to hear comments from the April 24, 2025 meeting of the state prison board (officially known as the Texas board of criminal justice):
Listen to “State prison board members comments to cracking down on contraband” on Spreaker.