Inmates in Michigan's prisons will have to pay for their own caffeine fix next month.
In an effort to save $250,000 this year, state officials are cutting off the supply of free coffee to inmates at state prisons and people in boot camps and correctional centers.
Corrections Department spokesman Russ Marlan said inmates can still buy instant coffee at prison stores, but he didn't know how much they charge. The cost-saving effort begins after March 1.
``We're looking at everything that can reduce costs without jeopardizing public safety,'' Marlan said Monday. ``There is no nutritional value to coffee.''
The state pays $2.50 to feed an inmate three meals a day, or a little more than $120,000 for the state's 48,600 inmates, Marlan said.
Barbara Levine, executive director of Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Safety, had some reservations. She said eliminating free coffee in state prisons shows that Michigan officials are looking at the wrong places to reduce spending.
``When you start saving money on prisoner meals, you're really setting a precedent of looking at the small things,'' she said. ``It is a little thing, but it's also the wrong sort of thing.''