×
You have 2 more free articles available this month. Subscribe today.
TDCJ Selling Counterfeit Meat
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice(TDCJ) is getting into the fast food business. This is a new and different type of fast food, though. What makes it a fast is how fast prisoners whisk their trays to the garbage can to dump the fake soy-based meat substitute off of their trays.
The new soy product is called Vita Pro. Larry Kyle, the director of Texas prison industries, says that under what he terms a Agentleman's agreement with Vita Pro Foods, Inc. of Montreal Canada, the Texas prison system will be the sole distributer of this new wonder product to cost-conscious prisons and jails all over the United States. The TDCJ hopes to make a cool, fast $4 million on the distribution deal this year alone.
The Vita Pro fake meat has already been served to Texas prisoners for some time. Kyle says that if any of the prisoners have noticed the difference, none have complained. Maybe we should forward him some of the letters we have gotten from Texas readers with their spontaneous, unsolicited testimony on Vita Pro. One letter described the product as looking and smelling like Alpo dog food, though in all fairness to Kyle, the author of that letter failed to make any specific complaints about how the product tasted.
It seems to be a trend nationwide that prison systems are scrambling to find ways to cut costs and turn a profit. For years politicians have gained office by exploiting get tough on crime, lock em up and Abuild more prisons rhetoric. It's a cheap political move because the Aget tough laws don't cost anything... at least not until the increased prisoner population starts to accumulate a few years later. Well, it's a few years later and the bills are starting to come due. In this case the bill is being presented to prisoners on their dinner trays... and it looks and smells like Alpo.
The new soy product is called Vita Pro. Larry Kyle, the director of Texas prison industries, says that under what he terms a Agentleman's agreement with Vita Pro Foods, Inc. of Montreal Canada, the Texas prison system will be the sole distributer of this new wonder product to cost-conscious prisons and jails all over the United States. The TDCJ hopes to make a cool, fast $4 million on the distribution deal this year alone.
The Vita Pro fake meat has already been served to Texas prisoners for some time. Kyle says that if any of the prisoners have noticed the difference, none have complained. Maybe we should forward him some of the letters we have gotten from Texas readers with their spontaneous, unsolicited testimony on Vita Pro. One letter described the product as looking and smelling like Alpo dog food, though in all fairness to Kyle, the author of that letter failed to make any specific complaints about how the product tasted.
It seems to be a trend nationwide that prison systems are scrambling to find ways to cut costs and turn a profit. For years politicians have gained office by exploiting get tough on crime, lock em up and Abuild more prisons rhetoric. It's a cheap political move because the Aget tough laws don't cost anything... at least not until the increased prisoner population starts to accumulate a few years later. Well, it's a few years later and the bills are starting to come due. In this case the bill is being presented to prisoners on their dinner trays... and it looks and smells like Alpo.
As a digital subscriber to Prison Legal News, you can access full text and downloads for this and other premium content.
Already a subscriber? Login