Cheap Food Enriching Profiteers, Making Prisoners Sick
As a former prisoner told the Vera Institute of Justice, food offers “a sense of relief; when you can go to the kitchen and get a good meal [it’s uplifting].” But as the nonprofit reported on February 27, 2024, there is almost no good meal to be had for $1.00—and most state prison systems spend less than $3.00 daily to feed each of their prisoners.
In most cases, these meals are provided by a private contractor, putting them a layer of oversight removed from accountability. Unsurprisingly, a 2020 Impact Justice survey found that 75% of prisoners surveyed reported being served spoiled food. The survey also revealed high numbers of prisoners who said they were never served fresh vegetables or fruit—62% and 55%, respectively. But supplementing their diets with commissary purchases was out of the question for 60% of those surveyed, who said they couldn’t afford anything from the canteen.
For the rest, Prison Policy Initiative found commissary expenditures averaged $947 per year, dwarfing the measly pay prisoners get, if they get any pay at all. As PLN has reported, in states like Florida, one private vendor controls both the prison commissary and the meals coming out of the dining hall, creating what Vera called “a perverse incentive: the worse the meals, the greater the need to spend.” [See: PLN, Feb. 2024, p.1.]
Given that, it’s not hard to see why studies find each year spent in prison reduces life expectancy by two years, especially when prisoners face a risk of contracting food-borne illness that is six times higher than the overall average. A study published in 2010 in Nutrition and Metabolism found that it takes just four weeks of poor eating and limited exercise to negatively affect health, far less than the 2.7 years spent in prison on average by each person released, according to 2018 data compiled by the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS). That also helps explain why that same BJS report found the incidence of chronic illness rose from 31% for all Americans to 44% for those in prison.
Prison meals rely on hyper-processed foods to meet calorie requirements, but those aren’t nutritionally sound. A study published by the International Journal of Prisoner Health on November 25, 2021, found that the sodium content of the diet provided detainees in one rural lockup in the southwestern U.S. contained 167% of the recommended daily allowance. The result is that prisoners suffer from abnormally high rates of diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure, as well as hearing and vision problem, cognitive difficulties and other disabilities.
Source: Vera Institute of Justice
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