BOYCOTT LAUNCHED! Hundreds in For-Profit ICE Detention Centers in California Declare Commissary Boycott to Protest Price Gouging

Media Contact: 

Alex Mensing, California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice, alex[@]ccijustice.org, 415.684.5463

July 1, 2026

For Immediate Release

Oakland, CA – Hundreds of immigrants detained at two Central Valley Immigration & Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers have declared a commissary boycott for the month of July to protest exorbitant prices for basic goods like food and hygiene products. California City Detention Facility (CCDF) and Golden State Annex (GSA) are operated by for-profit prison corporations CoreCivic and GEO Group, respectively, through lucrative federal contracts. People in detention are calling for the immediate reduction of prices for essential goods, the implementation of price caps, and an increase in the food portions provided by the detention centers, among other things.

“Here at Cal City, I’m paying premium for a knock-off brand. It’s like going to the pump after gas prices spike and paying premium prices for regular gas, only here inside it's even worse. CoreCivic charges us nineteen dollars for eight ounces of coffee. That’s one hundred percent of my monthly budget. I work as barber in the detention center and am paid only one dollar a day by CoreCivic. My relatives would like to send me money but they’re out there struggling as well to afford to survive with today’s cost of living,” said D.-, a man detained at CCDF who requested to remain anonymous due to ICE and CoreCivic’s record of retaliation. “Our boycott is a sacrifice because they don’t give us enough nutritious food to stay healthy, so we depend on the commissary. They give us milk only twice a week and I’ve received no more than five pieces of fresh fruit in the nine months I’ve been here. I used to buy powdered milk and powdered juices to get vitamins and minerals, but as prices increase, I purchase less and feel more unhealthy.”

In a collective grievance signed by hundreds of people at CCDF and mailed to outside advocacy groups, detained immigrants said that CoreCivic increased already-high prices in May of 2026. They called the practice an “example of captive-market exploitation where CoreCivic controls the entire market inside the facility and is using that control to impose excessive markups on detainees and their families.” They noted that pricing at CCDF is much higher than in state correctional facilities, stating that “ramen soups are $0.45 cents in prison whereas in CoreCivic they are priced at $.75 cents; coffee costs $9 in prison, but at CoreCivic coffee costs $18.” 

A bill to limit profiteering in ICE detention facilities by capping commissary markups in private detention facilities operating in California is currently making its way through the state legislature. SB 941 was authored by Senator Steve Padilla with over a dozen co-authors, and would prohibit the sale price of items offered through a facility commissary—including onsite or online stores and third-party vendor programs—from exceeding a 35% markup above vendor cost. The same framework already exists in California for the state’s prison commissary system.

“I depend on buying things from commissary in order to eat and have proper hygiene. They don't give enough soap or shampoo, or even the correct shoes, and the food that they serve here is often frozen. Just yesterday they served us frozen bologna. The items that they sell us are not only expensive, but they are poor quality and there aren't even enough choices for different foods. They mainly only sell us the things that Union Supply makes,” said M-, a man detained at Golden State Annex in McFarland, California who requested to remain anonymous due to ICE and GEO Group’s record of retaliation. “Because I need to spend money on food, I have less money to spend on phone or video calls to my family, or for stamps to mail documents to my lawyers. There are a lot of people here who cannot even afford commissary. They are losing a lot of weight.”

The boycott comes at a time when people across the United States are facing the impacts of rising cost of living. A poll recently found that 68% of people agreed with the statement: “ The Trump administration is focusing too much on deportations and not focusing enough on fixing the economy, inflation, and the rising cost of living.”

The commissary boycott is another protest in a long history of hunger strikes, labor strikes, sitdowns and other forms of collective resistance by people in ICE detention in California and across the country. From 2022 to 2023, people detained at Golden State Annex and Mesa Verde went on labor strike to protest the $1-a-day pay for working for GEO Group while detained, a practice which still exists and compounds the impact of high commissary prices. They faced heavy retaliation for their protests, just as people in detention continue to face today. One person who submitted a collective grievances about commissary prices within the last month was threatened with disciplinary action if she attempted to submit a collective grievance again, while another person was stopped from collecting signatures and subjected to disciplinary action. 

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The California Collaborative for Immigrant Justice (CCIJ) is dedicated to building collective power to end immigrant detention. CCIJ utilizes coordination, advocacy, and legal services to fight for the liberation of immigrants in California. Learn more at www.ccijustice.org and follow CCIJ on Instagram and other social media at @ccijustice (@ccijustice_ on TikTok)