DannyBoyinExile

There is an old saying in TDCJ, that “commissary is necessary”. It may be deemed a privilege to be able to buy things from commissary – but there are certain things that, even though you could live without, you wouldn’t be very pleasant to live WITH, if you did live without them. (Deodorant is a fine example!)
There is no other aspect of prison life that brings people so much joy, and stress, simultaneously. When the guard on a wing opens the dayroom door and says, “Twenty for commissary,” pandemonium ensues. It looks like nothing so much as the mosh pit at a Pantera concert. (Clearly, WrestleMania has existed in TDCJ far longer than it has for the WWE!)
And I’ve personally witnessed spontaneous healings, where old men with all sorts of physical ailments and medical restrictions literally jumped up and left their CANES behind, in a mad dash to get to the door. Such is the power of commissary. Sadly, old and crippled people are shoved aside (even trampled, in some cases!) just as quickly as anyone else. There IS such a thing as respecting your elders. But commissary is necessary.
Some people’s very reputations are based on how much commissary they have. There are people with “big money”, there are “hustlers”, and there are “roaches” – all based on how much commissary they have. Some people’s very LIVES may even depend on commissary, once they owe people money and aren’t able to pay it. Say a guy owes somebody twenty dollars for gambling, drugs, or just borrowing things from people until store day. In the words of Mr. T, I pity the fool who’s standing in his way, when they call commissary!
There will be times when inmates don’t have money to buy things from commissary, and many people even find themselves on restriction from time to time. (From TDCJ, I mean, not their wives!) So there is always plenty of hustling going on. Somebody always wants to buy something, and somebody else always wants to sell something, so inmates can generally come up with the things that they need. Some inmates even run “stores” (at 50 or even 100% interest) to loan people items from commissary. This is generally harmless, as long as people pay what they owe, and could even be considered a service to the community.
They do it to make money, for sure, but at least the people on the wing have a place where they CAN borrow things when they need them, which is convenient. And when you have a hankering for a pack of cookies – you typically want them NOW, rather than waiting until the next time they call commissary!
Commissary should never be considered THE most important part of anyone’s life, but it IS important, nonetheless. If nothing else, it’s something we can look forward to – which is never a bad thing, in prison. Commissary may not be “necessary”, but a pint of cherry vanilla ice cream is just about guaranteed to brighten my day – and that makes it worth all the stress I had to go through to get it. So says DannyBoy.