Encyclopedia of Prisons and Correctional Facilities

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Food

FOOD

The United States Supreme Court has consistently ruled that prisoners have the right to an adequate and varied diet, including the right to tailor meals to religious prescriptions and medical needs. However, the provision of food in prison often remains a sore point for inmates. Problems include food and preparation quality, portion sizes, and the temperature at which it is served.

HISTORY

Traditionally, food was used in prisons as a means of reward and punishment. In the nineteenth century, for example, incoming prisoners were often served bread and water until they had earned the right for such luxuries as meat or cheese. In the Eastern penitentiary in Philadelphia, breakfast was sparse and monotonous, consisting of coffee, cocoa or green tea, and a mix of bread and Indian mush. The primary meal at midday consisted of substantial portions of boiled pork or beef, soup, potatoes or rice, sauerkraut, and tea. Indian mush and tea constituted the evening meal.

Under the medical model of rehabilitation that emerged in the early 20^th century, prison food became linked to scientific notions of nutrition. Prison diets were examined for the calorific content rather than used primarily as a means of control. Healthy prisoners, it was believed, would be productive workers and, ultimately, reformed citizens. Even so, some institutions, such Alcatraz, deliberately offered a daily total of at least 5,000 calories, combined with minimal exercise, to make prisoners more lethargic and less likely to engage in violent behavior.

In recent decades, the science of nutrition has remained crucial to the provision of food in most prisons. Usually, diets are carefully planned and standardized. Some facilities post the weekly menu, including nutritional analyses of each meal listing caloric, fat, cholesterol and sodium content of each prepared item. In addition, all federal prisons are meant to have a salad bar and offer a 'heart healthy' version of the main meal. Fried and baked chicken, for example, or french fries and baked potatoes may be served at the same meal.

State prison systems, however, vary dramatically, in part because contracting food services out to the private sector is becoming increasingly common. As a result, many do not match the federal standards. However, because of both formal and informal pressures, such as prison reform efforts, prisoner litigation challenges conditions, and the nation wide influence of the American Correctional Association in providing minimal standards before individual prisons receive accreditation, prison food has improved dramatically.

SPECIAL MEALS

In most systems, prisoners with medical conditions, such as diabetes, HIV/AIDs, pregnancy or heart problems, may request special meals. They may also be allowed special snacks, if examined and authorized by a dietician. Similarly, Vegans, who eat no animal byproducts, are increasingly becoming recognized as a legitimate group with special dietary needs.

Religious prisoners form another group who require and are usually entitled to special meals. While some prisons provide different meals for each faith group, others, like the US Federal Bureau of Prisons, offer one uniform option known as Common Fare that tries to satisfy the dietary requirements of all religions. In this system, the meat is kosher, pork and its derivatives are never used, and vegetarian options are meant always to be available. In order to avoid contamination with non-kosher or Halal food, Common Fare meals are usually served with disposable plates and cutlery. Certain other religious-based food requirements are usually honored throughout the year. Muslims may eat breakfast before dawn and eat dinner after sunset during Ramadan. All Jewish prisoners, who submit a request in writing to the Chaplain, are entitled to kosher food for Passover. Christians will be offered a meatless meal on the mainline menu during Ash Wednesday and on all Fridays of Lent.

FOOD AS PUNISHMENT

Other than restricting access to the commissary, food may not, by law, officially be used as punishment. There is no longer any such thing as a diet of bread and water. Inmates even when in disciplinary segregation are entitled to nutritionally adequate meal. Ordinarily these are from the menu of the day for the institution. However, some super-maximum security facilities serve what is known as a ‘food-loaf’ or ‘meal-loaf’ to recalcitrant inmates, especially those who continually throw feces or urine on staff. This product is made up of the ingredients of a regular meal, for example hotdogs, potatoes and beans that have been mashed together, baked like a meat loaf, and served. Although nutritionally adequate, and thus not equivalent to a diet of bread and water, in serving, taste and aesthetics, it functions a form of punishment, even if defined as a "dietary adjustment."

COMMISSARY

Prison commissaries stock food and other goods for prisoners to buy. Items include shoes, radios, food, stamps, photocopy and phone credits, and, in some institutions, over the counter medication like Tylenol, ibuprofen and allergy medicine. Prison commissaries vary in pricing policies, variety and accessibility. Prices are usually at least market rate, making prisoners dependent on funds from outside. Their prison salaries, often starting at $15 a month, are often insufficient to purchase other than the most basic hygiene items.

THE CULTURAL SIGNIFICANCE OF FOOD

In prison, food creates or ameliorates conflict, establishes social boundaries of power and status, and provides a significant element in prisoner culture. Prison meals establish a routine for prisoners and staff. Inmates are not required to go to meals, and some manage to avoid them all together by living off commissary items and "gifts" from others. For most, however, meals provide a valued opportunity to interact with others.

The scarcity of desirable food in prison creates an illicit market for alternatives. As with other scarce resources, competition generates an underground acquisition and distribution system. Some food can be obtained from the prison commissary or kitchen by theft and cooked in the privacy of one's cell.

Those who can acquire quantities of high-quality food use it as status-enhancing currency by sharing it with friends or impressing outsiders. Those particularly adept at obtaining quality merchandise develop a reputation as a valued peer. Pilfered food can be returned to the cellblock and distributed or sold, sometimes in collusion with staff. For well-connected inmates, a cell can be turned into a mini-cafeteria where food is sold.

SOME PROBLEMS WITH PRISON FOOD

Concerns about food are often related to how and when meals are distributed. The serving line at meals is a constant reminder of the diners' vulnerability and their powerlessness over the daily routine. Sanitary prescriptions in kitchens and dining rooms may or may not be rigidly enforced, and on hot days in poorly ventilated sweltering areas, the servers' perspiration, mingled with steam from the trays, may drip into the food. The prevalent rumors that some inmates "sabotage" food with saliva, feces, or other matter perpetuates the image of uncleanliness. Although there are few documented cases of foreign substances such as feces or saliva added to the food during preparation, the rumors contribute to lack of confidence in prison sanitation, especially for prisoners isolated in segregation units to whom food is delivered. While usually delivered in a covered wagon from the central kitchen, food served in this way may be vulnerable to hygiene problems. It also frequently arrives cold.

Another problem with meals in prison is the hour at which they are served and the amount of time available to eat. Most meals occur in prison far earlier than is normal in the free community. Prisoners must, therefore, become accustomed to an entirely new eating schedule that may commence as early as 6am and end by 4pm. Generally, no more than 14 hours may elapse between the evening and breakfast meals. Thus, religious inmates fasting during Ramadan or Passover must sign a waiver form, articulating that they have chosen to go hungry for more than the allowed time period. In total institutions, mealtime is short, usually about a half an hour from entry to exit. If the lines into the dining room or through the "chow line" are slow, the time for eating is reduced proportionately. Inmates are taken to the dining hall from their cellblocks or assignments in lines, with one line entering when the previous group exits. Although variations occur within and across prison systems, dining generally follow a highly structured regimen.

Finally, prison food can be repetitive despite variation in menus.

This occurs in part because of poor preparation resulting in meals in which soggy vegetables and overcooked meat, for example, are indistinguishable from one meal to the next. Some institutions attempt to overcome the problems associated with the provision of food by making cooking facilities available to inmates. Women and low-security prisoners may have access to hotplates, microwaves, and other appliances necessary to cook and serve food. Sometimes, sympathetic staff may allow inmates to prepare food in their cells using illicit "stingers" or other heating devices, or ignore contraband food that prisoners have managed to obtain. The bulk of the population, however, is dependent upon what the institution kitchens produce for everything other than what they may buy at the prison commissary.

CONCLUSION

The ubiquity of food, its importance both as one of life's small luxuries and a survival need, its relative ease of accessibility compared to other illicit resources, and its seemingly benign nature--"who has ever been stabbed with a sandwich?"- disguise both its practical and symbolic dual character as a conveyor and ameliorator of punishment. The ability to control when and what one eats is a basic aspect of adulthood. It is, therefore, often a flash-point for conflict. The restriction of something as mundane as food adds a significant layer of punishment to the prison experience. The consequences derive not simply from deprivation of a discrete resource, but from the disruption of normal eating rituals such, as mealtimes. In addition to being a valuable amenity, food functions as a commodity of exchange for other resources. The deprivation of fundamental amenities constantly reinforces loss of individual control.

Prisons are, to a large extent restricted in the freedom they can give to inmates in preparing their own food because of security fears. Food service staff must account for knives and other potentially threatening implements before ending duty. They must also lock away any products, like yeast, cloves or other spices that could potentially be used in the production of homemade alcohol (hooch). The variety of ways by which inmates attempt to re-assert control may be perceived as maladaptive by administrators and outsiders, but they may also be viewed as creative strategies to increase normalcy in an abnormal environment.

See also Alcatraz, Eastern State Penitentiary, prison culture, prison farms, religion, supermax.