Prison food contractor hit with $2M in penalties
LANSING — Michigan's prison food contractor, Trinity Services Group, has been hit with penalties totaling just over $2 million for inadequate staffing levels and other problems since the company started providing meals in September 2015, an official said Friday.
The penalties, first reported Thursday by Gongwer News Service, show significant problems persist with the privatization of prison food services, after the state ended a contract early to replace its first prison food contractor, Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services.
Florida-based Trinity has been penalized $905,750 for unauthorized meal substitutions, $357,000 for delays serving meals, $356,000 for inadequate staffing levels, and $294,500 for sanitation violations, among other penalties, Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz said. Those penalties, which are assessed monthly, have all been imposed since about December 2015, when Trinity's grace period ended, he said.
"We feel that staffing is the biggest issue and that if staffing issues were resolved, the other issues would decrease," Gautz said.
Read more: http://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/01/20/prison-food-contractor-hit-2m-penalties/96824274/
