Q&A
Alternative payment methods for commissary funds
1:00:05
ยท
66 sec
Council Member Diana I. Ayala suggests exploring alternative payment methods for distributing commissary funds to inmates upon release.
- Ayala mentions electronic payments, cards, and checks as potential alternatives to cash.
- DOC representatives confirm that some of these methods are already available.
- The discussion highlights that while alternatives exist, they are currently available upon request rather than by default.
- This exchange underscores the need for a more proactive approach to fund distribution.
Diana I. Ayala
1:00:05
I mean, but there are many means of there's there's a there are many ways to pay out.
1:00:09
Right?
1:00:10
Electronically, via cards, you know, via check.
1:00:16
Have any of those options been exhausted?
James Conroy
1:00:20
But I I'm sorry.
1:00:20
I'm like, we do these things.
1:00:23
You know, we do have this availability to do it.
Diana I. Ayala
1:00:25
Upon request, though.
James Conroy
1:00:27
But right.
1:00:28
What but that's at this discharge time.
Nell McCarty
1:00:31
And I I I mean, I do wanna highlight again that when someone is, a detainee being discharged and they're they're literally exiting, Rikers to go to the bus that takes them off of Rikers Island, they they pass the cashier window.
1:00:47
So it is available, and at that passing of the cashier's window and I understand the point that, like, you may not you just may not stop.
1:00:54
But it is in the concept of, like, it's being handed or available, it is it is right there and accessible.
1:01:01
But I do agree that, you know, we equally want to see people, receive their funds, and I do think that this is, for for all of us to really think I
Diana I. Ayala
1:01:11
just think that the if the $5 that I don't I could care less about are becoming an inconvenience for you, that it will behoove you to figure out how to get me to claim those $5.