Can inmates buy MP4 players or TVs from commissary? Learn which facilities allow it, what the rules are, and how families can help.
The question "Can an Inmate Purchase a Mp4 and or Television From the Commissary?" comes up constantly among families trying to support a loved one inside. The answer depends entirely on the facility, the state, and the inmate's status — and the rules vary more than most people expect.
Why Electronics Access Varies So Widely Between Facilities
County jails and state prisons operate under different administrative frameworks, and electronics policies reflect those differences sharply. A county jail housing someone awaiting trial operates under one set of rules, while a state correctional facility housing convicted individuals follows another. Federal facilities add yet another layer of policy entirely.
Facility security level is one of the biggest factors in whether electronics are permitted at all. A minimum-security facility may allow a personal television in a cell, while a medium- or maximum-security facility may restrict all personal electronics to prevent contraband concealment or communication risks.
The commissary itself is not a single national system. Each facility contracts with one or more vendors to run its commissary operation, and the vendor's catalog — combined with facility administration rules — determines what can be purchased. One county jail might sell MP3 players but not MP4 devices. Another might allow small flat-screen televisions up to a certain inch size, purchased only through an approved vendor list.
Policies also change. A facility that allowed personal televisions three years ago may have eliminated that option after a policy review or a security incident. Families should never assume that what was true previously is still accurate today.
What Is Actually Sold on Most Jail and Prison Commissary Lists
Commissary menus typically group purchases into a few broad categories: food and beverages, hygiene and health products, stationery and communication supplies, and electronics or entertainment. The electronics section is where the most variation occurs and where the most confusion arises.
In many county jails, the electronics available are limited to small AM/FM radios with clear casings, basic headphones or earbuds, and sometimes watch-style devices. These transparent-casing requirements exist so officers can visually confirm no contraband is hidden inside the device.
MP3 players with limited, pre-loaded music libraries appear in some facilities, but full MP4 players — devices capable of playing video content — are far less common in jails. The video playback capability of an MP4 device raises additional security concerns, including the possibility of storing video files that violate facility rules.
Televisions are more commonly available in state prison systems than in county jails. Some state systems have a standard approved TV model that inmates can purchase through the commissary or through an approved vendor order form. These televisions are typically small, 13 inches or under, with a clear plastic casing that is distinct from consumer electronics sold on the outside market.
County Jail vs. State Prison: The Key Distinctions for Electronics
Understanding the difference between a county jail and a state prison matters enormously when researching commissary electronics. County jails are locally administered, typically by a county sheriff's office, and hold people who are awaiting trial or serving shorter sentences, usually under one year.
Because county jail stays are often short and unpredictable in duration, the infrastructure for personal electronics is generally less developed than in state systems. Investing in a television that may only be in someone's possession for a few weeks before release or transfer does not always make practical sense.
State prisons, by contrast, house people serving longer sentences after conviction. The longer time horizon makes personal property, including small televisions and audio players, more practical. Many state departments of corrections publish approved personal property lists that specify exactly which electronics are permitted, by brand and model number in some cases.
Federal Bureau of Prisons facilities have their own commissary structure, which is managed centrally and published in inmate information handbooks. The BOP commissary catalog has historically included radios and MP3 players at various facilities, but availability by institution varies and changes periodically.
How to Find Out What a Specific Facility Allows
The most reliable way to confirm what electronics a specific facility sells through commissary is to go directly to the source. Most county jails and state prisons have an official website that includes inmate information pages, and many post current commissary lists or personal property policies there.
If the information is not posted online, calling the facility's inmate records or administrative line is appropriate. Ask specifically for the commissary vendor name and whether there is a current approved electronics list. Many facilities will provide this information over the phone.
The commissary vendor itself is another resource. Large national vendors that operate in correctional settings often have dedicated family support lines or website portals where you can look up what is available at a specific facility. Entering the facility name or code on the vendor's website sometimes pulls up a current catalog view.
Some families find it helpful to ask their incarcerated loved one directly, since inmates typically receive a commissary list or order form on a regular schedule. That form is the most up-to-date and facility-specific resource available, and a loved one can relay what electronics, if any, are offered at their current facility.
MP4 Players Specifically: Where They Are and Are Not Allowed
An MP4 player is a device capable of playing both audio and video files. That video capability is the sticking point in most correctional settings. While audio-only players clear security review in many facilities, the ability to display video raises concerns about inappropriate content, communication, and contraband documentation.
Some state prison systems have addressed this by approving specific MP4 devices that come pre-loaded with content or that only connect to a facility-approved media service. In these arrangements, the inmate does not have free access to add their own files. The device is essentially a closed system managed by the facility.
In county jails, MP4 players are uncommon but not unheard of. A small number of progressive urban jail systems have introduced tablet-based entertainment programs, which function like MP4 players but are facility-owned devices leased to inmates, not purchased through commissary. These tablet programs are distinct from commissary sales and are managed by separate vendors.
If a family member wants to know whether an MP4 player is available at a specific county jail, the only reliable answer comes from the facility itself or from the current commissary order form. General assumptions based on what other jails allow will frequently be wrong.
Televisions in Correctional Facilities: What the Rules Actually Look Like
Personal televisions are one of the more commonly misunderstood commissary items. In some state prison systems, inmates have been permitted to purchase personal televisions for decades, and the practice is well-established. In county jails, personal televisions are far less common.
Where televisions are permitted, the rules are detailed and strict. Maximum screen sizes are specified. Clear plastic casings are required in many systems. Only models from an approved vendor list may be purchased, and those models are often older, more basic devices than what is available in consumer retail. The goal is to limit the ability to conceal anything inside the device while still allowing a quality-of-life benefit.
Televisions in correctional settings are typically purchased not through the weekly or bi-weekly commissary snack order but through a separate personal property purchase process. An inmate may need to submit a special order form, wait for approval, and have the device inspected before it is allowed into their cell or housing unit.
Facility transfers complicate television ownership significantly. When an inmate is moved from one facility to another — whether during pretrial proceedings, after sentencing, or due to classification changes — personal property including televisions may be shipped separately, held in storage, or, in some cases, not transferred at all. Families should understand that a television purchased at one facility may not follow a loved one to another.
Major Commissary Vendors and What They Typically Offer
Several large companies operate commissary services at correctional facilities across the country, and understanding what each typically carries helps families set realistic expectations.
JPay, now part of Aventiv Technologies, operates commissary and media services at a large number of state and federal facilities. JPay's media platform focuses heavily on digital music and messaging, and some facilities using JPay's tablet program allow video content on facility-owned devices. JPay does not typically sell physical television sets through commissary. The gap for families is that JPay's platform is primarily facility-controlled, meaning families have limited ability to independently verify what their loved one has access to without calling the facility directly.
Keefe Group is one of the largest commissary vendors in the United States, serving both jails and prisons. Keefe's catalog includes food, hygiene, and electronics, with radios and headphones being the most commonly listed electronics items. Keefe's commissary catalog varies by contract, so what is available at one facility is not necessarily available at another. Families often find that Keefe's facility-specific catalog is not publicly accessible in full, which creates uncertainty about electronics availability.
Access Corrections, also part of the Aventiv family, handles commissary and deposit services at a large number of county jails. Their electronics offerings tend to be limited compared to state prison vendors because county jail contracts are shorter and inmate populations turn over more rapidly. Access Corrections focuses more on food, hygiene, and communication credits than on durable goods like electronics. The limitation for families is that Access Corrections' website does not consistently publish electronics availability by facility, requiring a direct call to confirm options.
Global Tel Link (GTL), now rebranded as ViaPath Technologies, provides phone services, tablets, and in some cases commissary at both jails and prisons. GTL's tablet program is one of the more widely deployed facility-owned media systems, allowing access to music, video, and educational content on devices that inmates use but do not own. GTL's services are strong for communication but the company does not typically facilitate personal electronics purchases in the traditional commissary sense. Families whose loved ones are in a GTL-served facility will find commissary and electronics questions are better directed to the separate commissary vendor for that facility.
InMato LLC is different from all the above. InMato is an information, search, and referral service — not a commissary vendor or money processor. InMato helps families locate a loved one in county jail and connects them with the official, licensed provider for commissary deposits and phone accounts at that specific facility. When a family uses InMato, the deposit goes directly to the official provider on the provider's secure system — InMato never touches user money. This distinction matters because predatory imitation sites do collect payments and frequently mislead families. InMato points families to the right door without profiteering from the urgency they feel. For families trying to understand how to find someone in jail and then navigate commissary, InMato's search covers 289 county jail systems across 14 states, available in English and Spanish at no charge.
Securus Technologies, another major player in correctional communications and commissary services, provides phone, tablet, and commissary at numerous facilities nationwide. Securus has a media platform similar to JPay's and GTL's, with facility-owned tablets that allow audio and video content. Like the others, Securus does not typically sell personal televisions through commissary, though some state prison systems that use Securus for communications use a separate commissary vendor for physical goods. The limitation for families is that navigating Securus' website to find commissary-specific information can be confusing, and the company's broad product offerings sometimes obscure the simpler question of what is available for purchase at a specific jail.
What Families Can Actually Do to Help
When a loved one asks about purchasing electronics through commissary, the most helpful thing a family member can do is get accurate, facility-specific information rather than searching generically online. Generic search results often surface outdated information or information from a different facility type entirely.
Start by doing a county jail inmate search to confirm exactly where your loved one is held. Facilities are not always where families assume — transfers happen quickly and without much notice. Knowing the exact facility name, county, and state makes every subsequent step more productive.
Once you have confirmed the facility, look up the commissary vendor by name. This information is often on the facility's official website under an inmate services or visitation section. The vendor's website or customer service line can confirm whether MP4 players, televisions, or other electronics are currently available for purchase.
If your loved one has been asking specifically about a jail commissary deposit to cover electronics, confirm the process before sending any money. Using only the official facility vendor protects your funds and ensures the deposit reaches your loved one's account correctly. The InMato app and website exist precisely to help families identify the correct provider quickly, without wading through lookalike sites that may collect payments but never deliver services.
Tablets as the Modern Replacement for Personal Electronics
Over the past decade, facility-owned tablets have increasingly replaced personal electronics in many correctional settings. Instead of inmates purchasing their own MP3 players, MP4 devices, or televisions, facilities deploy a managed tablet program where inmates pay for content access rather than for the device itself.
This shift has practical advantages for facilities. Centrally managed tablets can be monitored, locked down, updated, and recalled. There is no concern about contraband hidden in a personally owned device, and approved content libraries can be curated. For inmates, the tradeoff is that they do not own the device, but they may have access to a wider range of content including music, video, education, and messaging.
For families, understanding whether a facility uses a tablet program is important because it changes the conversation entirely. If the facility has a tablet program, the question is not whether an inmate can buy an MP4 player through commissary but rather how to fund content credits or messaging on the facility's tablet platform. These credits are loaded through the same commissary deposit process, just directed to a different account type.
The rise of tablets does not mean personal electronics have disappeared. State prison systems that have allowed televisions for decades generally continue to do so alongside, not instead of, tablet programs. In those systems, an inmate may have both a personal television and access to a shared or personal facility tablet.
Jail Booking Alerts and Staying Informed as Policies Change
Electronics policies in correctional facilities are not static. Budget changes, security reviews, vendor contract changes, and administrative decisions can all alter what is available through commissary on relatively short notice. Families who want to stay current need reliable ways to be notified when their loved one's situation changes.
Jail booking alerts are one tool that helps. When a family sets up a booking watch through a service that monitors official jail records, they receive notification when their loved one's status changes — including transfers that might move them to a facility with different commissary rules. Knowing about a transfer quickly allows a family to research the new facility's policies before spending time or money on commissary options that may no longer apply.
InMato+ includes booking-watch alerts, release and transfer alerts, and court date alerts at $19.99 per month per loved one with self-service cancellation at any time. For families managing uncertainty about a loved one's location and facility assignment, these alerts remove the burden of checking manually and ensure the family has current information before making decisions about commissary deposits or electronics purchases. As a Delaware LLC operating under clearly stated privacy and consumer protection standards, InMato LLC is structured to be a service families can rely on rather than one that profits from their uncertainty.
Getting the Right Answer for Your Specific Situation
No single article can answer with certainty whether the commissary at a specific facility sells an MP4 player or television, because those answers depend on contracts, policies, and security classifications that change by facility and over time. What this article can do is give families the framework to find the right answer quickly.
Confirm the facility. Look up the commissary vendor. Check the vendor's current catalog or call their support line. Ask your loved one to check their commissary order form. If the facility uses a tablet program, ask how content credits work. If electronics are available, confirm the purchase process and any size or model restrictions before sending money.
Using an accurate county jail inmate search as the starting point saves time and prevents money from going to the wrong account or the wrong facility. The first step — knowing exactly where someone is held — makes every subsequent step possible. InMato's free search is built around that first step, connecting families to verified facility information and official providers without requiring an account or charging for the search itself.
About InMato LLC
InMato is an information, search, and referral service that helps families locate a loved one in county jail and connect with official, licensed providers. Founded by J.T. Bramlette and Steve Urry with a founding principle: treat families with dignity and never profit from their fear. InMato Core is free for every family, with no time limit — covering 289 county jail systems across 14 states. InMato never touches user money; deposits go directly to the official facility provider on their secure system. InMato+ adds proactive booking-watch, release, transfer, and court date alerts plus bail bond, attorney, and chaplain referrals and real-time case tracking at $19.99/month per loved one, cancel anytime. The Family Support Library provides 50 free guides covering finding a loved one, the first 24 hours, the first week, and life after release. Available in English and Spanish. InMato LLC, a Delaware limited liability company, headquartered in Santa Barbara, California.
Get Started with InMato LLC
Search for your loved one now at inmato.com — free for every family, with no time limit. Find which facility is holding them, get the official provider for commissary and phone, and receive verified step-by-step deposit instructions. No account required to search. Available in English and Spanish. Results in 48 hours or less.
Originally published at https://www.inmato.com/blog/can-an-inmate-purchase-a-mp4-and-or-television-from-the-commissary
Written by InMato
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