Small and Disposable

Items (from left to right)

• BIC pen, for scale
• State-issued soap (free)
• A commissary razor (19 cents)

These are the staples of daily living that we can buy at the Logan Correctional Center commissary. We use these in the showers, at the sinks, at our desks and tables. They say the miniature size is for security. But the size also reminds us of our existence: to them, we are small and disposable.

Items (from left to right)

• A golf pencil (12 cents)
• A segregation pen (30 cents)
• A segregation toothbrush (14 cents)
• A toothbrush (25 cents)

For the average American earning $61,900 a year, buying a $0.30 pen represents just 0.00048% of their income. However, for incarcerated individuals in Illinois, who make as little as $129.50 annually, the same pen consumes 0.23% of their earnings — 478 times more than someone on the outside. Even at the higher end of prison wages, $432 a year, the cost still represents 143 times more of their income.