HIG Capital’s Prison Food and Commissary Store Racket

The report argues that HIG Capital's consolidation of the correctional food and commissary markets through TKC Holdings (comprising Trinity Services Group and Keefe Group) incentivizes the provision of low-quality cafeteria food to drive incarcerated individuals toward expensive commissary purchases. It documents instances of food contamination, riots, and contract terminations in states like Michigan, as well as allegations of bribery and extensive political lobbying. The document also highlights the public health risks of poor nutrition and foodborne illness in correctional facilities, suggesting that improving diets could reduce taxpayer healthcare costs.

• HIG Capital's ownership of both Trinity Services Group (cafeteria services) and Keefe Group (commissary stores) under TKC Holdings creates a financial incentive to reduce the quality of government-funded meals to increase sales of high-margin commissary items.
• In Michigan, Trinity Services Group's management of correctional cafeterias was marked by reports of mold, maggots, and dirt, leading to a riot at the Kinross Correctional Facility that caused nearly $900,000 in damages and the eventual termination of the contract in 2018.
• At the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Laredo Processing Center in Texas, detainees reported receiving inedible food and foul-smelling water, forcing some to perform dangerous work like cleaning sewage to afford water from the commissary at $1.34 per bottle.
• The report identifies a pattern of poor food service and instability in other Trinity-run facilities, including reports of maggots and mold in Utah's Weber County Jail, and food-related riots and complaints in Georgia's Gordon County Jail and Colorado's El Paso County Criminal Justice Center.
• Keefe Group has been involved in bribery and kickback schemes, including a case in Mississippi where the company agreed to pay $3.10 million as part of a larger settlement, and a 2006 case in Florida involving $130,000 in kickbacks.
• Trinity and Keefe have engaged in extensive political lobbying; between 2006 and 2018, Trinity spent $1.63 million and Keefe spent $1.67 million on lobbyists in Florida alone, with additional lobbying efforts in several other states and at the federal level.
• Poor nutrition and contaminated food in prisons pose significant public health risks; incarcerated individuals are 6.4 times more likely to fall ill from spoiled food than non-incarcerated people, and 6 percent of all U.S. foodborne illness outbreaks occur in correctional institutions.

APA

Baker, J. (2019). HIG Capital’s Prison Food and Commissary Store Racket. Private Equity Stakeholder Project. https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HIG-Capital-Prison-Food-Commissary-PESP-103019.pdf

Chicago

Baker, Jim. HIG Capital’s Prison Food and Commissary Store Racket. Private Equity Stakeholder Project, 2019. https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HIG-Capital-Prison-Food-Commissary-PESP-103019.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Baker |first1=Jim |title=HIG Capital’s Prison Food and Commissary Store Racket |publisher=Private Equity Stakeholder Project |date=October 2019 |url=https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HIG-Capital-Prison-Food-Commissary-PESP-103019.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{baker2019hig, author = {Baker, Jim}, title = {{HIG Capital’s Prison Food and Commissary Store Racket}}, institution = {Private Equity Stakeholder Project}, year = {2019}, month = oct, url = {https://pestakeholder.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/HIG-Capital-Prison-Food-Commissary-PESP-103019.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }