Fernando Arciniega has been detained since May 2024. Before his arrest, he was the one supporting his family — his 17-year-old daughter, his 12-year-old son. Now, he has to ask his daughter to send him $10 so he can eat.

Inside California's ICE detention facilities, detainees earn just $1 a day through a federal work program.

But the commissaries run by private prison companies CoreCivic and GEO Group charge $18.80 for a jar of instant coffee, $20 for a box of tampons, and $6.38 for a three-ounce stick of deodorant, more than twice what those same items cost at Walmart.

Detainees who can't afford to supplement their meals go hungry. Those who run out of hygiene products go without. And those who want to call their families have to choose between a phone call and a meal.

This is not an accident. It's a business model.

California Senate Bill 941 would end it. It mirrors a 2023 state law that already caps commissary markups at California prisons at 35% above vendor cost — and extends those same protections to ICE detainees. SB 941 passed the state Senate 38 to 0, with support from both parties. The legislative session ends August 31. Time is running out.

Detainees at California City and Golden State Annex have already launched a boycott — refusing to buy rather than keep lining corporate pockets. They are doing their part. Sign this petition to urge the California Assembly to pass SB 941 now, before another month passes and another family has to wire money to help a parent buy food.