Critiquing Bob Barker Institutional Supply Company
Retired American game show host and Washington State born Bob Barker, is one of the most recognizable names on daytime television, most known for his role hosting the longest running game-time television show in North America. The Price is Right was first filmed with Barker as its new star on August 19, 1972. During the world premier of The New Price is Right, Barker assured audiences that the game’s premise would remain the same, “Still based on the pricing of merchandise with wonderful awards for smart shoppers”. Contestants selected from the audience would have the opportunity to guess to the-nearest-dollar the cost of a product or experience in order to have it, in some rounds the guesser would be in competition with others seeking to do the same. Rather than talk about the racial or class inequities between the contestants, or even how the show promotes over-consumerism, let’s examine a fortuitous representation of how capitalist consumerism and mass incarceration are inextricably intertwined.
North Carolina born newspaper publisher/editor Bob Barker was elected to be Mayor of Apex in 1972. Following that he ran for Senator and held that position until 1974. By the 1980s Barker transitioned from one side of politics to another with his purchase of a jail supply company. He expanded their inventory from providing just restaurant supplies to also include bedding, apparel, surveillance and security equipment. Barker’s prison supply store expanded from North Carolina into Virginia and across the Southeast. In response to the prison population boom of the 90s Barker’s self-described “innovative” business solutions included, “a polyester-core mattress which became the industry standard, a triple bunk to help with over crowding, the Van Cell to provide secure and economical prisoner transport, and personal care products in see-through plastic containers to make it impossible to hide contraband”. Today the self-acclaimed family owned business has hundreds of employees with Barker as CEO and his children employed as President and COO.
It’s Your Turn to Guess. It’s the Prison Industrial Slave Complex. An overcrowded and dilapidated collection of privately and state owned facilities filled with people from mainly impoverished communities of color who couldn’t afford the quality representation needed in order to avoid harsh oversentencing. With many prisons filled over capacity and with incoming legislation to correct overcrowding stalled in multiple state congresses, this criminal-legal systematic failure can be yours if… the Price is Right.
My creative spiel for guessing the overall annual cost of PISC
When I initially was told about Bob Barker Company I was mind-blown assuming that they were the exact same Barker. After some research, while the TV host Bob Barker and jail supply Bob Barker are two different old white men born on separate coasts of the US, I do believe that these illustrate the relationship between the cost that America is spends on PISC and the money subvertted from taxpayers to maintain the criminal-legal system as it is.
Brothers and sisters behind the wall, it isn’t far fetched that a man named Bob Barker most likely produced, sold and shipped the furniture you sleep on, play cards at, exercise on and store files in? Check the labels for his BB logo. On top of the $920 floor-bolted game table are most likely Barker’s silicone dominos, checkers or chess sets marketed as, “Pliable material reduces possibility of weaponizing”. The shock that comes with scrolling through the variety of (clear covered, see-through, break-proof, flexi-safe, extra-durable) products that are available on Bob Barkers site is just as, if not even more, disturbing than had both Barkers been the same man. Not only does Bob Barker Company supply the furniture and exercise equipment that people in prison use, but Barker Company also produces and sells the restrains, pepper stray and duty gear used on prisoners by corrections officers.
At Least $80 Billion Each Year and counting
The US taxpayer contributes tens of billions of dollars to maintain 1,833 state prisons, 110 federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails that, according to the Prison Policy Initiative, hold over 2.3 million people. The Price is Right often feature products that are made by people prisons including apparel, footwear and many other retail items. While stereotypes of prisoners making license plates distort our idea of how prison labor is used, we must expand our understanding to include more categories of production including healthcare, beauty products, furniture and many other types of apparel, even lingerie. The prison class contributes to every single US industry from government military uniforms to corporate call centers and agriculture. Similarly to how immigrant residents are forced to work below living wages oppressed by their lack of documentation, prisoners are forced to work and buy without any market choice, oppressed by their inability to move freely.
While the Price is Right emphasizes the relationship of the individual consumer to the products they encounter during their shopping experience, Bob Barker Company distinctively markets to prison officials instead of to the people in prison who’ll actually be using their products. Marketing messages range from toothpaste made with, “Clear formula and clear plastic packaging offers a safe, convenient way to see contraband” to furniture like the Barker Built® Economical Single Bunk with factory Welded Legs. Surprisingly, Bob Barker’s inventory also include feminine hygiene and healthcare products. In response to the pandemic, face masks have also been added. Purposely, people in prison forced to use these products play no role in the supply of demand trends of these product. Inmate consumers are the literal definition of a captive audience. In a capitalist economy where a citizen’s most influential “vote” is their dollar, what if money being in your hands was considered contraband? In this case people in prison function more like the capitol rather than the consumer.
Who’d Actually Buy A Plastic See-through Sleeping Pillow?
Prison industries often fly under the radar, they don’t run magazine ads or television commercials because their buyers are guaranteed, so long as sentencing laws stay harsh. I want to encourage people who are unaware of the monopolies incentivized to maintain the “broken” prison system, to take a deep dive into Bob Barker Company. The tendency to measure success as more bodies caged, rather than more lives changed, is fueled by the billions of dollars profited with businesses who provide the supplies, foods, furniture, medicines, transportation and other services used on people in prison. Each of the categories Bob Barker Company has expanded into tell a part of the story of how prison, jail and detention facilities serve the day-to-day needs of their populations.
While browsing, pay close attention to the category, inmate management. Upon initial observation I’d thought the list may include name tags or placards. However inmate management products include security mirrors ranging in sizes (convex, quarter dome, half dome and full dome) to fit any corner or crevice of common areas, walk through metal detectors, handheld scanners and floor anchoring kits. These are the items that are used to further surveil and criminalize our loved ones behind the wall. It’s appalling how a former politician can continue to profit from billions of dollars re-diverted from the taxpayer. The fact that Bob Barker Company is the leading producer for the majority of items that 2.3 million people interact with everyday and yet have no role in shopping for is the antithesis of the so-called “free-market”. Parasite monopolies like these should be extracted from the fabric of society.
