Ector County Jail Sells $19,000 in Vapes in One Month
Credit: Ye Jinghan
Authorities in Ector County, Texas started selling e-cigarettes to inmates at their Law Enforcement Center started on May 8th. Jail Captain James Mckinney started with 2,000 vapes. One costs about $14.
“Regular, menthol, peach, ice peach and then berry. I ordered 400 of each and we were sold out last week,” said Mckinney.
They were so popular, Mckinney just ordered 4,000 more, according to CBS7.
In total they’ve made $19,476.50, profiting $11,776.50 on the e-cigarettes in just one month.
“If you’re making money off the inmates it has to go back to benefit the inmates, whether it be the mattresses I buy for them, the clothes, sheets, anything that benefits them, basketballs,” said Mckinney.
They’ve only had about 10 inmates alter the products out of the hundreds currently at the jail.
“If they tamper with them we’ll take them away for 14 days, if they tamper again with them, we’ll take them away for 21 days, if they tamper a third time then we’ll take them away until we say they can get another one,” said Mckinney.