So what do you know about Keefe?

I am writing after family sent me some information from your website regarding the Keefe Commissary Network indicating that this company is engaging in unfair business and pricing practices. As of September, 2005, Keefe began providing commissary service to the Arizona prison system.

Can you tell me if any lawsuits regarding Keefe have been heard or decided in other states? I would also like to know if the Indiana price-fixing issue was resolved and if so, how? The article on your website that mentioned this was "Indiana prisoners fight price fixing." I would also like to know who owns/controls Keefe.

-- an Arizona prisoner, 24 January 2006

MIM responds: As we reported in 2002, part of Keefe's strategy for success is its membership in national and regional prison and jail organizations like The American Correctional Association, American Jail Association, and National Sheriffs' Association.(1) This means buddying up with corrections officials to get contracts, as when the Cook County Jail hired Keefe to run its commissary and one of the Keefe employees working in the commissary turned out to be the Jails Commissioner's wife.(2) Anyone who knows the answers to the Arizona prisoner's questions or has more interesting information about Keefe should write in.

Notes:
1. www.keefecommissary.net/
2. Chicago Tribune, 6 March, 2003.