Prisoners in New Zealand are able to spend up to $70 a week on supplies and groceries – a weekly shopping system known as the canteen. So what’s available? Stuff reporter Hamish McNeilly goes shopping.

Our mission is to spend $70 at a prison canteen, with the added bonus of not having to be incarcerated.

Instead, I’ve sourced a printed canteen menu, which contains a prisoner’s name, the wing they are in, their prison number and their available balance.

First-up the prices are, unsurprisingly, more expensive than you would see at a supermarket and that is quite a thing for a prisoner who could earn as little as 20cents an hour.

In response to the cost of living crisis, Corrections told me they have reduced some of the margins, to counter a recent increase from its supplier.

It is worth noting that those in prison – of which there are more than 8000 people around the country (roughly the equivalent of the population of Gore) – are provided with three daily meals and supper, clothing, and personal hygiene items including shampoo, conditioner, soap, toothpaste and toothbrushes.

The range and prices of goods available across canteens were set nationally. All prisoners have a trust account, which could be topped up by family and friends, or with money earned from working, which they can use to buy canteen items.

So, let’s go shopping.

I’m worried about processing the food while inside, so I tick the box for 200 grams of pitted prunes. At $8.75, I may regret this later.

I buy tea bags for $5.35 and coffee granules for $3.55. Unsure whether prisons supply milk, I decide to cut down on my dairy.

But I do no need protein, and I’ve got the perfect plan: Tuna. A can of ‘Tahitian tuna’ is $3.15 and I’m ordering six.

I’m now walking down the metaphorical treat aisle, surrounded by biscuits (choc chewy caramel $4.40, peanut brownies $4.95), but select ginger nuts at $3 are perfect for dunking and a good price. Make it two.

As part of the box ticking exercise for my P119 canteen form, I ignore chips, muesli bars, and cereals – wiping a single tear from my eye. I’m later told these items are popular trading items in prison. Opportunity missed.

I plan to spend my remaining dollars on toiletries, a book of stamps at $15 and a ‘birthday boy’ card at $1.50.

I check my balance, I’m already over budget. I cut the tuna and stamps. I’m back at $37.40.

Now, I’m not going to do anything silly, until I spy body wash ‘magical spell’ at $6.15, lip balm chap stick at $5.35 and hair dye (blonde) at $12.10.

I tick two packs of tissues at $1.85, dental floss at $5.40, deodorant at $3.75 and ear plugs at 45 cents.

I tick playing cards ($3.30) and a writing pad too ($2.40).

Now I’m $10 over and am seriously sick of this. Hair dye: gone.

I have about $2 to go, and I blow it on a $1.45 card which reads ‘Get Well’.

Corrections’ national commissioner Leigh Marsh stresses that prison canteens do not make any profit.

Canteens also provide a work-like training environment for prisoners to get NZQA-recognised training, in areas such as stock management, order fulfilment, packing and distribution.

Prices were calculated based on the cost from Corrections’ supplier, plus a margin to cover overheads and GST. A price increase on around three quarters of the canteen’s menu was applied on June 30, says Marsh.

‘’They have advised us the price increase is driven by changes to raw material and freight charges, just like those being seen across the New Zealand and other global economies.’’

To counter those increases for those serving sentences – and their families – Corrections had reduced their margins on most products ‘’which means people in prison will pay less than they otherwise would have’’.

Taxpayers were not subsidising the cost of canteen items, he says.

Corrections are also now supplying prisoners with free monthly phone minutes, removing the need for some to purchase additional phone cards.

-Hamish McNeilly/Stuff.