Ohio Administrative Code
Title 5120 - Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections - Administration and Director
Chapter 5120-5 - Funds
Section 5120-5-05 - Inmate commissaries

(A) Institutional commissaries are to be kept clean and in good order at all times.

(B) The managing officer or designee must approve all items sold in institutional commissaries. Items are to be sold at a reasonable price. Unless approved by the office of administration, an item is not to be sold at less than cost except as a means to reduce inventory of slow moving items. A current price list will be posted for the inmates at least once every six months.

(C) The managing officer or designee will establish and publish operating procedures governing inmate commissary privileges and file copies with the office of administration. Commissary shopping privileges are not to be extended to anyone other than inmates except in cases of extreme emergency or crises upon the approval of the managing officer or designee. Every inmate will be provided the balance in his/her account before shopping.

(D) Unless an inmate transferee is received at an institution without personal funds, credit is not to be extended to inmates for shopping in commissaries, without the permission of the office of administration. An inmate transferee without personal funds may be advanced up to the cost of a lock and five dollars on his personal account for commissary shopping. The amount of credit is posted to the inmate's personal account as a debit and recovered from the first funds the inmate receives from any source. Newly incarcerated inmates received at reception are not to considered inmate transferees.

(E) An inventory will be taken at least monthly, and an accurate record will maintained by the commissary manager of all transactions affecting accountability, including, but not limited to, price increases or decreases, bonus items received, breakage, and spoilage. Commissary managers are to prepare monthly financial statements no later than the tenth of the month following the reporting period and retain on file after review by the managing officer or designee.

(F) Commissary revenue exceeding operating costs and cash reserves are considered profits. Profits from the commissary operation are to be paid into the industrial and entertainment fund. The department of rehabilitation and correction shall maintain at least one cash reserve account equal to two times the cost value of the average monthly inventory for the preceding fiscal year of its five largest commissaries. Reserve accounts shall be invested and the interest earned transferred to the industrial and entertainment fund.

(G) Expenditure of funds in excess of five hundred dollars for items other than merchandise for sale or operating supplies requires prior approval of the chief of the division of business administration or designee.