Commissary personnel, who are state employees with inmate assistants, fill the order and charge the inmate's trust account, using a debit card. Debit cards are issued to all inmates and serve as personal identification cards. Upon release from prison, inmates receive a check for any balance in their accounts. This department manages commissary operations for the Institutional Division, the State Jail Division and the substance abuse treatment facilities. The money received from sales and from the interest earned on the inmate trust fund account is used to pay for the goods sold and for salaries and other department operating expenses.
Many items sold in the commissaries are subject to state and local sales taxes.
This exclusion results in lost revenue to the state, cities and counties of several hundred thousand dollars per year. Commissaries do not charge tax on the sale of soft drinks, candy and other normally taxable food items when sold to inmates. When those same items are sold to a prison or jail employee, the tax is collected. Due to the dual taxing system for these items, an unnecessary burden is imposed on the commissaries to tax employees, but not inmates, for the same item. For at least 20 years, Texas Comptroller's Rule 3.293 has interpreted this provision to include the retail sale of soft drinks and candy to inmates in jails and prisons.