It adds up faster than most people on the outside expect, and the county jail is one of the most expensive environments an inmate can be in.
Phone calls are almost always the biggest drain. County jail phone rates are notoriously high, and without a discount service in place, calls can run several dollars per minute. It is not hard to burn through hundreds of dollars a week on calls alone. In my first month away, my wife spent over $6,000 on phone calls. That puts $500 a week in perspective fast.
Commissary is the other major category. Food from the commissary is marked up significantly, and if an inmate is supplementing the facility meals, which most do because jail food is often barely edible, spending $200 a week is entirely realistic. Snacks, hygiene products, writing supplies, and anything else available through the commissary all carry inflated prices.
Beyond that, jails sometimes charge daily housing fees, and medical visits often come with a copay that gets debited directly from the inmate's account. Those charges can quietly eat through a balance without the inmate even realizing it until the money is gone.
If the phone bill is the main culprit, that is the easiest place to get immediate relief. InmateAid's discount phone service cuts rates at many county jails by up to 80%, which can turn a $500 phone week into something far more manageable. It is worth setting up before the next billing cycle hits. Click here to check it out.