Essay On Prison Food

A prison’s focus on cost-cutting leads to distasteful meals and unsatisfied appetites. In some prisons, the food is considered so inedible or devoid of nutrition that inmates who once used cigarettes as currency favors now uses ramen noodle packs. Prison cuisine is already limited but food services are often first to be downsized or turned over to private companies. The result can be a reduction in the quantity or the quality of the food. In some Texas or Tennessee prisons, inmates are only given two meals a day during the weekends. Meals that are high in carbs and low in vegetables and protein, leaving many prisoners hungry for more. Most prisoners today recognize that offering satisfying meals that taste good can allow prisoners to eat their

ethics, is one way to keep the peace. But it isn’t always so.
Prison food in the United States was a means of a reward and punishment.

In the 19th century, incoming prisoners had to survive on bread and water until they had served a certain amount of time, then meat and cheese were added to their diets. Decades lates, after learning about human nutrition prison meals were generally regarded more for their calorie content than as a way to control “Healthy prisoners, it was believed, would be productive workers and, ultimately, reformed citizens,” writes criminologists Mary Bosworth. Most institutions rotate their menus, serving the same foods on a cycle. Others plan meals around whatever ingredients they could find at the lowest

price.
For prisons to keep the cost low, some would spend 56¢ per meal. Half a dollar doesn’t buy much, this results to buying bologna sandwiches, watery oatmeal, and reconstituted mashed potatoes. Last July, prisoners in the Butler County jail in Kansas were so disgusted by their mashed potatoes that they started a riot to protest. Jail officials decided that the chow-hall security needed improvement, not the food. A former prisoner sued New York Montgomery County jail in 2014, he lost 24 pounds in five months at the facility, eating toothpaste and lotion to help fill his stomach. The lawsuit contended that prisoners were only fed 1,700 calories a day. This led another prisoner to lose 90 pounds in six months. Most Alabama counties operate under this system today, with the same $1.75-a-day allocation and the law allows sheriffs to keep any excess funds, resulting in massive corruption. For instance, in 2009, Alabama Sheriff Greg Bartlett was arrested after putting $212,000 from his Morgan County jail food budget to his personal account for over three years.
The Michigan Department of Corrections fired Aramark as its food-service contractor after finding that food had come into contact with rodents and maggots.

The contract has then been passed to Trinity Service Group, which is facing claims that the food they're serving is rotten, too dry to eat, and the portions are smaller than ever. Prison food quality is often diminished by thin budgets, but also a lack of flavoring. “A large majority of the population in my facility have health problems, and we need to cook without salt and spicy ingredients,” says Thielman, who is president of the Association of Correctional Food Service Affiliates. “I also do not buy or grow any spice that could be used to assault staff or inmates, such as hot peppers or crushed red

peppers.”
For the more than 2 million men, women, and juveniles incarcerated inside one of the more than 5,000 jails, prisons, and correctional facilities in the US, food can be a grim reminder of their imprisonment or can be a source of pleasure. “Bad food is definitely a painful reminder, and most of the food is bad,” says Jan Smitowicz, who managed to remain vegan during his two years in various Illinois prisons, often by making his own food. Preparing meals can be quite difficult but it can go a long way towards building inmate camaraderie, says Smitowicz. “Food brings people together, probably even more so in prison. For special occasions - like, say, the Super Bowl - I’d see six, eight, ten guys go in together on a giant, special meal that took hours to prepare and cost probably $50 to $80 per guy, with each acquiring one or two items from the commissary the week before, planning it all out in complex details.”
Budgets might be tight, but serving meals that are unappetizing or nutritionally insufficient comes painfully close to cruel and unusual punishment. According to Friedmann, a former prisoner himself, what we need is a new way of thinking. “First, corrections officials need to recognize that prisoners are people who deserve to be treated with the minimum dignity and respect afforded to those who are not incarcerated,” he says. “The notion that prisoners do not deserve nutritious and palatable means - or at least food that is not spoiled, past expiration date, or marked ‘not for human consumption’ - must be rejected. That would require lawmakers and policymakers to ensure prison and jail food budgets are adequately funded.” It's not that prisoners are asking for gourmet meals, he says. “Rather, they should at least be served food comparable to that served in public schools.”
The better the food is, the better prisoners may be treating each other. Prisoners are not getting the nutrients that they need in their bodies. Being hungry can definitely affect people’s mood and emotions. Not only do they suffer from hunger, but the people in charge often take advantage of the food budget and keep it to themselves (not all). Instead of spending most of the money for a bigger space or getting more security guards, maybe putting more effort in giving them better food can keep them a little happier.