Jamie Mosley is a successful entrepreneur, who started a company, and made a lot of money, selling a product you might not have realized there was a market for: E-cigarettes that are safe for jails.
Specifically, for his jail — or at least, that’s how it started.
Mosley, a former state police officer who moonlights as a NASCAR driver, was elected Jailer of Laurel County Kentucky in 2012. Without the option to sell tobacco in his commissary, the jail saw a new set of problems emerge, like withdrawal issues, more inmate fighting, and an increase in black market trade of tobacco. Furthermore, Mosley found that corrections staff had one less thing to take away from inmates to discourage bad behavior.
“When I developed the product. It was really not with the intention of starting a company I was just trying to solve a problem within my own facility.” Mosley told VICE News. So he got the idea to introduce a vape option to his jail, but all of the ones on the market were too easily turned into weapons. So he invented a solution.
“Everything out there had a metal casing or was a very very hard plastic, and could be hammered down into a shank,” Mosley said, “We also wanted something with a very low voltage so that you couldn’t utilize it for an ignition source to start a fire with.”
Crossbar, as Mosley calls his product, is now in some 33 prisons and jails across the country, and is expected to do $3.5 million in sales this year.
It sells to prisons and jails for about $2 to $3, and the jails, in turn, sell it to inmates for between $10-15. One Crossbar e-cig is said to be the equivalent of about two packs of cigarettes, but inmates say they are still essentially luxury items. And while Mosley sells the ecigs to his own jail at cost, it’s not hard to see the excellent profit margins that would be attractive to other facilities. This additional revenue source is one of the main marketing points for Crossbar.
And while the e-cig trade has made Mosley a fairly wealthy man, he insists he has no plans to give up the job he loves: working at the jail.
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Crossbar, as Mosley calls his product, is now in some 33 prisons and jails across the county, and is expected to do $3.5 million in sales this year.
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He doesnt give a shit either way, he's already made his money and is just riding it out from here on.
Tried one of these when I was locked up a couple of weeks ago in Johnson County Texas Jail and I gotta day man these things hit so harsh and barely buzz you.
This is a good thing. The prisoners have a mind of they're own. They can quit if they want, he is simply providing an alternative…not forcing them into anything. He is giving most of the money back into the jail which is also a good thing.
I think that it's a great system, and should be implemented in every state. For those who say that he is capitalizing on it, I'd argue that he's putting it back into the welfare of the prisoners and is doing a really good thing for them. Albeit that he is complying with Kentucky law and fulfilling a mandate, but the safety of his guards as well as other prisoners outweighs anything else and is priority. I know how it is to be dependent and had a 33-year coffin nail addiction. That is until I discover vaping and saved my life
They got basketball and vapes! They chillin
They pulled a “I don’t like it so nobody else should”
Bull. Shit. It's not that they don't you to take drugs… They want you to take their drugs: Expensive phone minutes, Triple charge for medical and medication and COMMISSARY.
02:23 definitely should put some money into education too, spelling, reading, applied arts..
hotbox the jail
Verry good idee 👍🏼
Lmao always there’s always that dude hitting two at the same time
They are using them…
This guy is a genius.
Let just say what they said about the low voltage so its not used as a ignition source is completely false I can take one apart start a fire with it and put it back together and u couldn't tell it had been took apart and the part about the plastic tube not being able to make a shank out of it wrong when u melt plastic u can mold and shape it how ever u want once u get it molded to where it's thick enough and then let it cool and harden guess what it's hard to break and u can sharpen it
Thank god there making those for the prisoners
Shank the reporter.
I'm so sure that you can cure yourselfs too. Just look for WeedBorn.
They should bring in cbd
these jail plebs are getting skimped for $15
I think E cigs in jail is an ok idea and I would rather see the jail profiting rather than a big conglomerate who doesn't care for them at all ! Good for him! anyone who smokes will tell you it's a great idea! Also it makes financial sense!!!
3:04 I like how they share their e-cigs. It seems they all add an e-cig to a handful to get the most nicotine at once and then pass it around.
Vice News will give you cancer far quicker than any cigarette 😛
shouldn't be giving prisoners nicotine or anything that involves smoking because them being in jail also stops them from smoking. they still could smoke if they get released but it would lower down any cancer or disease and addiction