Prison blues: States slimming down inmate meals ( no breakfast for ex.)

[ensho]

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20090605/D98KCH0G0.html


The recession is hitting home for inmates, too: Some cash-strapped states are taking aim at prison menus.

Georgia prisoners already didn't get lunch on the weekends, and the Department of Corrections recently eliminated the midday meal on Fridays, too. Ohio may drop weekend breakfasts and offer brunch instead. Other states are cutting back on milk and fresh fruit.

Officials say prisoners are still getting enough calories, but family members and critics say the changes could make prisoners irritable and food a valuable commodity, increasing the possibility of violence.

-snip-

(GA.) Almost 5 percent of the state's 58,295 prisoners still get three meals every day because they are diabetic, pregnant or have other special health needs.

Barbara Helie, whose 25-year-old son Nicholas is serving time for armed robbery in Valdosta State Prison, said he would go hungry without the roughly $60 a week she puts into his account to buy instant soups, cheese, beef sticks and other snacks at the prison commissary.
-snip-
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stupidity

[Sannum]

1. Brought to you by the Prison Industrial Complex

[ensho]

2. where the only thing that counts is profits

nt

[ProgressIn2008]

3. Bingo. nt

[Liberal_in_LA]

6. horrible.

[rustydog]

4. Maybe the food service providers are the same who

charged the military for 3 meals a day in Iraq when the troops were getting maybe one meal a day.
You know, KBR a Dick Cheny subsidiary.

[barbtries]

5. how do they get away

with starving prisoners? the punishment is being locked up. good gawd. this is the USA?!

[vadawg]

7. i think the whole point is they are not starving the prisoners

the amount of food they get daily is the amount recommended by dieticians etc. I got to say the amount they get is more than i would eat in a day also.

[Obamanaut]

31. 2800 calories is not starving. nt

[Riley18]

8. It is inhumane and simply wrong to starve the prisoners. You would expect

this from a third world country but this country used to be better. The families have to do without in order to put money into accounts for basic needs of the prisoners. I bet they don't get much for thie money with everything overpriced and probable fees as well. Enough calories they say.....my guess is that they are giving them high calorie gruel. This is another example of how low our country has sank.

How much did that stupid Reagan statue cost us? Bet it would have bought alot of burgers. Of course, Reagan would have called the ketchup a veggie like he did when discussing school lunches.

[vadawg]

9. in my experience they are not starving them, as i said they get as much if not more food than i eat

a day, what do you want, to give as much food as the inmates want.

[enlightenment]

10. No offense, vadawg, but what does your personal

caloric intake have to do with it?

There was a time in the history of incarcerations that prisoners received what their families and friends could pay for - and nothing more. From the tone of the article, it sounds as if modern institutions are headed back in that direction.

Yes, saying they are being starved is neither logical nor correct - but basing your argument on how much you eat is equally absurd.

[vadawg]

11. not really im saying that what i see is that the inmates are not being starved as some imply

and that what they get is more than i eat in a day is not absurd but just a statement of fact.

[Fumesucker]

20. You are familiar with every prison in the USA?

Or are you extrapolating from an extremely limited set of anecdotal observations?

Edited for word choice.

[vadawg]

21. probuably from a similar amount of data you are, if you read my post i stated in my experience

if the best you can do is to come up with the old your experience dosent count then why bother even answering my post. You just keep on believing that the inmates are being starved and abused in every facility across the country or whatever your belief is.

[Fumesucker]

25. I never mentioned how much experience I had..

I had a family member in prison for a non violent "drug crime" over twenty years ago and it was hellish then, the food was awful and the prison officials were corrupt.

I seriously doubt things have improved in the meantime.

[Bill McBlueState]

53. sure, it's a statement of fact

"Prisoners get more food than I eat in a day" is certainly a statement of fact.

But for all we know, you could be anorexic.

The point is that it's not a very helpful fact because its truth depends entirely on your personal habits.

[Obamanaut]

29. 2800 calories in a day is not starvation rations. As for friends and/or

relatives putting money into the inmate account for canteen items, can you imagine one side of the conversation on the collect call (paid for by the relative)? I've heard the inmate saying things such as "bitch, send me some goddam money."

They (inmates) will also run a scam on church prison outreach ministries, sending them letters saying they desperately need money for soap, toothpaste, other hygiene items - and IT JUST AIN'T SO.

Then, they will use relative and church-goers money, buy honey buns, chips, beef sticks, etc., and use these items in their gambling endeavors.

Inmates don't go hungry. I don't believe they should be mistreated or abused by rogue employees, but they are not hungry.

[vadawg]

32. lol you desribed it perfectly, the number of scams they try to pull with volunteers is

mind boggling, some of the cell blocks are so full of food that it gets trashed during shakedowns for being a safety hazard. yup the inmates are not starving.

[aikoaiko]

59. It should be simple caloric math that maintains a BMI of 20.

As far as I am concerned, make their food as simple and cheap as possible.

[Strong Atheist]

35. VERY Belated Welcome to DU!!

:toast:

[NightWatcher]

12. if they cant properly house and feed them, stop arresting minor drug users

and allow more resources to be devoted to the REAL criminals, all of whom deserve proper care, food, and shelter...

Damn that social contract...

[Warren Stupidity]

13. Lawyers are getting hungry as we read this.

The state has a responsibility to provide adequate food clothing shelter etc. for the people it imprisons. I have a better idea: let everyone in jail for non-violent offenses such as drug crimes go home, and stop incarcerating anyone else for non-violent offenses.

[vadawg]

14. yeah great idea, then watch as every criminal goes on a non violent crime rampage

do you really believe that if someone steals the ID of 200 people and ruins their lifes and steals thousands of dollars they should just go home. what about the 5 time dwi guy, or the 100 time shoplifter.

[Warren Stupidity]

15. "a non violent rampage"

oxymoron much?

[vadawg]

17. yeah i noticed the wordmuddle myself but thought it was pretty cool

still my point stands, if you know you aint going to jail no matter what, then whats to stop you going on a shopping rampage with someone elses ID.

[Warren Stupidity]

18. ok fine: include property crimes in the list

send the dopers whores pimps and pushers home. Drug crimes account for a huge proportion of all incarcerations.

[vadawg]

19. okay so the pushers go home, what if their product kills someone

do we then get to punish them with incarceration or do we put that down as not their fault.

[Fumesucker]

27. End the drug war..

No more pushers..

Can be done in a single day with the stroke of a pen.

[SammyWinstonJack]

50. !!!

:thumbsup:x3

[backtoblue]

61. YES!!

:bounce:

That would be a rational and humane solution to alot of problems. If only they could see...

[Warren Stupidity]

39. OK I get it, you are just fine with the prison industrial complex.

The war on drugs is a farce. It doesn't protect anyone from access to any drug they want to use, it just creates a huge expensive prison industrial complex stuffed full of people who sold other people things they wanted to buy and use and people who didn't sell anything but happened to have enough of whatever substance was in their possession to qualify as 'a dealer' without any other evidence, and people who just got nailed for using. The WOD has created a police state that you are obviously very happy with, and has pushed state after state into spending more on prisons than they do on schools and pushing those states into insolvency every time the economy takes a dip. But of course we have to keep those evil pushers in prison, think about the children.

If somebody sells you a product that causes you harm, you sue them. If they do so deliberately, that could be a criminal offense. Then again you probably are against product liability lawsuits too.

[Raineyb]

26. Is there any offense that can be perpetrated by either the government or corporations that you

won't apologize for?

We arrest more of our population per capita than any other country in the world. If we can't house them perhaps we shouldn't arrest so many for so many of these minor nonviolent offenses.

[vadawg]

28. lol minor offenses, so if someone steals something from you

you are okay with a deputy turning up and telling you hes not going to do anything, no report nothig as its minor. what may be a minor offense in your eyes could be a major crime to the victim.

[Warren Stupidity]

40. Ah so in the interest of full disclosure you seem to claim to work in a prison

consequently you have a vested interest in keeping those prisons chock full of non-violent offenders. Got it.

[vadawg]

43. lol who said i work in a prison, not me, and trust me there will always be enough murderers etc

or do you think rapists, murderers etc should just get a walk as well.

[Warren Stupidity]

45. "we had two full squads on duty"

" in my jail there is no tobacco allowed either, when the ban went into effect

we had two full squads on duty to shakedown the place, it all went down quietly considering, the show of force helped to quell a lot of the anger."

I give up, who is this 'we'?

[Raineyb]

42. It's no skin off my nose of someone smokes a joint

which in this country we lock people up for. So, as I said, if we can't house them perhaps we shouldn't lock up so many people on the minor charges.

And frankly as most cops are fairly useless, rather abusive, and fucking lazy I am thankful every day I don't have to call one of those jack asses to my house.

[vadawg]

44. yep until the day you really need one, or would you just let the bad guy do what he wants

i love when a thread falls to the i will never call teh cops level, its funny to think of you hiding under your bed with the phone debating about calling 911 or not.

[Raineyb]

54. I've made the mistake of involving the cops once.

That's how I know exactly how much like the criminals they claim to protect us from they are.

[louis-t]

16. Read what Helie said: $60 a week for "instant soup,

cheese, beef sticks, and snacks". I don't spend much more than that on my entire menu. I'm gonna guess her son is not a toothpick. My Mom is the same way, food is love.

[Obamanaut]

30. That's a lot of snacks. Inmates don't get cash, so they often use

the snacks provided by the labor of their relatives as payments for various gambling endeavors.

If ample (to them) money is not put into their accounts, the inmates call, collect, and ask for some. Many times when they were asking, I've heard all kinds of profanity and name calling because the supply of money had slowed down. They rarely don't consider that it was not the relative's transgressions that placed them there, but rather their own.

Edited to add this: If the son in question, who needs 60 dollars for snacks every week, had not committed an armed robbery, he might be buying his own snacks. But wait, he wanted someone else to buy his stuff even then.

[mitchtv]

37. My Guess? That the commisary makes a LOT of money

for certain parties and now will make more

[Obamanaut]

38. What does this have to do with people thinking that 2800 calories

per day is starving people? Or convicted armed robbers taking money from their families, families who are possibly doing without so those convicted felons can squander that money on frivolities? And bitch the family member out on a collect call when the money is not coming quickly enough?

Nothing, that's what. Just another conspiracy theory. Prisons have been around for a long time, through administrations good and bad, your party or someone else's. There have been ne'er do wells in those prisons the entire time.

If my suggestions carried any weight, there would be no canteens/commissaries inside prison fences. They would eat their 2800 calories per day, wear their prison laundered garments, get their medical care via the taxpayer (and yes, they do get medical and dental care despite what some would have you believe.) Fights have started over bags of chips, so why have them. Correctional staff must intervene in those fights, putting them in some degree of danger. Some of those correctional staff are mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, children, grandchildren, even grandparents of someone - being put in danger over a bag of chips.

[mitchtv]

46. hardly nothing

they have to spend more of their resources

[Gman2]

57. Punishment, not rehabilitation. I mean, they should suffer so that when they are released

they are fit for society. And many if not most are nonviolent thrird timers that smoked a joint to get the third. This crew seems at least as bloodthirsty as the republifucks.

[louis-t]

47. Good assessment.

[Raineyb]

55. My guess, the snacks are sold at extremely inflated prices.

Not unlike the way they inflate the costs of the collect calls prisoners make to their families.

[BlooInBloo]

22. Think how cheap it would be if you just shot them, rather than starving them.

[vadawg]

23. are you kidding with the price of ammo today, its probuably cheaper to work them to death

sarcasm

[Solly Mack]

24. K&R

[Fire1]

33. In Michigan's prison system there is no smoking. Cigarettes

are considered contraband. I can imagine the fights that break out daily. Imagine coupling that with less food. Wouldn't want to be there!

[vadawg]

34. in my jail there is no tobacco allowed either, when the ban went into effect

we had two full squads on duty to shakedown the place, it all went down quietly considering, the show of force helped to quell a lot of the anger.

[Fire1]

36. No withdrawals??? Amazing.

[vadawg]

41. lol lots from both inmates and deputies, but as i said we were there in force

and the unwritten rule was made very evident to the inmates, that nothing would be tolerated and everything would be punished, after a week or so everything calmed down probuably due to the deputies going through the same thing at the same time.

[kenny blankenship]

48. But breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

Where are they going to get the energy for shiv grinding and butt piracy if they start the day in an energy deficit?

[old mark]

49. Since I eat about 1700 calories a day, am not a convict, and

buy my own food,clothing and shelter, fuck 'em.

mark

[WI_DEM]

51. Come on start serving gruel--it's supposed to have all the needed nutriants for survival.

[CTyankee]

52. Why can't they have prisoners grow some of their own food?

If there is so much crap, why not let them plant gardens and grow food? In the warmer climes, they could grow quite a bit. I realize some of these prisons house a lot of prisoners, but even something would be better than nothing. And it would be healthier for the inmates, IMO...

[aikoaiko]

60. In GA they do. The farm prisons make 80% of food consumed by prisoners, IIRC.

GA prison pork chops are actually extruded pork puree into the same shape for all so that there won't be any fighting over different sizes. The pork chops are not so good, but the bologna was as good Oscar Meyer.

[backtoblue]

56. Scary thought, but this will lead to more corporate-owned prisons.

which will, inevitably, lead to some form of imprisoned slavery.

[Dogtown]

58. The apologists in this thread are staggering.

Self-righteous and cynically non-progressive. If these fools vote for Democrats, we've somehow managed to steal their votes from the GOP. I'd be grateful for the windfall, if I believed that or them.

One thing is very clear from this thread. Prisons spend as little on staff as they do on cuisine.