Federal prison FAQ # Money The commissary cap, the store, two-for-one, and IFRP. There is no cash in here, which is why nearly everything you do economically becomes a debt. Coming in ## How much, and how it arrives ### How much money do I need per month? You can only spend $360 a month at commissary (the prison store) from your own account, so that is the practical ceiling on your own spending. ### What's the commissary limit? $360 per month per shopper. The operative phrase is “per shopper.” Stamps and phone credit generally sit outside the cap, which is part of why stamps (the inmate currency) became the currency in the first place. The figure has held for a while but it is adjusted and it can vary locally — [PS 4500.13, the Trust Fund manual](/resources/program-statements/4500-13-trust-fund-deposit-fund-manual) is where it lives. ### How does money get to me? MoneyGram or Western Union (how families load money onto the account). There is also a lockbox by mail, which is slower and cheaper. Whoever is sending it should read [the money chapter of the family guide](/for-families/guide/money) once before they send anything, because the failure modes are all avoidable and all annoying. ### What do I actually buy at commissary? Whatever you want. Food, hygiene, coffee, shoes, a radio. ### Can I send money home? No. The gray market ## Packs, stores, and interest ### How do I buy someone's pack? Men who do not spend their full limit will shop for you. It is how people get around the cap and it is unremarkable. The mechanics of doing it without creating a problem for yourself are worth an actual conversation rather than a paragraph. [Email me](/contact) if you are about to do it for the first time. ### What's a store? What's two-for-one? Somebody in every unit sells items on credit, sometimes with a written list. Two-for-one means you take one now and pay back two on your next commissary. That is a hundred percent interest over about a week. If you arrange something like this, make sure what they want back is not something you are already getting anyway. Do not fuck around with this. **Read the debt chapter first** Debt causes more problems inside than anything else, and a two-for-one is the standard way a new arrival takes on their first one without noticing. [Debt](/going-in/while-youre-in/debt) is the long version of this answer. ### Can I gamble? Sure. It is also a prohibited act, and gambling debt is one of the two or three most common ways men end up in a situation they cannot get out of. Do not gamble anything you cannot cover. Earning and owing ## Pay, and what the Bureau takes back ### Do I get paid for my job? How much? Cents an hour. Not enough to matter, unless you get into UNICOR (the better-paying prison work program), which pays multiples of everything else. ### What if I have no outside support and no money? I am sorry. This is a real position and a lot of men are in it. Get a job inside. Find a hustle — cleaning cells, laundry, whatever you can do. Tell your counselor (front-line staffer for phone, visits, jobs) you are indigent so you at least get issued hygiene. It is harder than it should be and men do it every day. ### What's IFRP and can I refuse it? The Inmate Financial Responsibility Program. If you owe restitution, fines, or child support, the Bureau takes a share of what comes into your account each month. Your unit team sets the amount at each program review based on what is actually landing in your account. The floor is low — ordinarily $25 a quarter if you are not in UNICOR, and about half your pay if you are — and it climbs from there with your deposits. At my facility it worked out to roughly a sixth of everything coming in. You can refuse. Read the next answer before you do. ### What happens if I refuse IFRP? You go into refusal status, which costs you your FSA (the 2018 law behind earned time credits) benefits along with a list of other privileges. It is a bad trade for almost everyone. The list is not vague. Refusal status means no furloughs, no performance pay above maintenance level, no UNICOR, a commissary spending limit far below the normal one, the lowest housing status, and no community-based programs — which is the halfway house. On top of that, refusal status is one of the conditions that stops you from earning First Step Act credits at all. So the price of not paying $25 a quarter is months. [Run it through the time calculator](/resources/time-calculator) if you want to see the number. Next section — part 7 of 16 ### [Food](/going-in/faq/food) Medical diets, religious diets, spreads, and how people cook without a stove. For your people ## Hand the rest of this site to your family You will not be able to look things up once you're inside. They can, and this is where: [everything written for the one waiting](/for-families) — a twelve-part guide to mail, visiting, money, and your release date, plus their own FAQ and checklist. Alongside it, a [guide to every facility](/resources/facilities) with [email alerts when visiting stops](/lockdown-alerts/subscribe), the [support group directory](/resources/support-groups), calculators for your release math, and [free answers](/contact) when they have questions. Send them the link before you report, not after they can't reach you. **Need help with this? Just ask.** These pages cover the general rules. Your situation has details they don't. Email me a question. **Answers are free** , and "you don't need to pay anyone for this" is my most common answer. [josh@federalprisondude.com](mailto:josh@federalprisondude.com?subject=FAQ%20question) I answer in the order received, usually within a couple of days. I have a day job. If your situation genuinely needs more than an email, I take a limited number of consults, so say so and we'll work it out.