AUSTIN, Texas (WSVN) — Thousands of inmates have worked together to collect funds for the victims of Hurricane Harvey.
According to the Dallas Morning News, over 6,600 inmates have donated $53,863 from their commissary funds to help the hurricane victims.
Texas Department of Criminal Justice spokesperson Jason Clark said the inmates voluntarily contributed to the American Red Cross, the newspaper reports.
“It’s just something they chose to do,” Clark told the Dallas Morning News.
Money from a prison commissary is traditionally used to buy things like stationary, personal hygiene items, snacks and other items.
The average donation was $8, with donations ranging from $1 to “hundreds” of dollars per inmate.
Clark reports that this is not the first time prisoners have pitched in to help following the natural disaster. Similar gestures were seen after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
Clark said inmates could contribute as much or as little as they’d like and the donations do not count toward their spending limit of $95 every two weeks.
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