Prison Economy

• Prison Economy
• Suave Gonzalez 
  
• Mixed Media Collage
• Size: 48” x36”

In the American prison system, there is a company called KEEFE Commissary Network (KCN) that is the nation’s leading provider of commissary management and products in the penal system.  These commissary items which traditionally cost cents on the dollar in the outside world, cost a dollar or more in the prison system.  For example, a package of Oodles of Noodles costs about 34 cents in a grocery store, and a $1.99 in prison; Colgate toothpaste costs an average of $3.40 in the outside world in a grocery store, costs $7.00 in prison.  

The profits from the items sold in the commissary in prisons across America are split between the company KEEFE and the Department of Corrections (DOC). According to Suave, the DOC often reinvests this money in building more facilities, and in buying new gadgets to control the prison population - for example, an electronic nightstick (akin to a stun gun) or drug sniffing dogs that terrorize the prisoners. Suave's messages in this artwork highlight a deep concern for the ongoing cycle in which the penal system continually profits from the exploitation of a vulnerable prison population.