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Jail Food Can Be a Hard Sell - inmates' reviews... 'It's basically slop'
Los Angeles Times ^ | January 8, 2005 | Paul Pringle

Posted on 01/08/2005 2:08:28 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife

In the sour innards of Men's Central Jail, Alice Scott watched with pride as trays of her chicken casserole dinner were delivered like mail through slots in the cell doors. Prisoners began devouring the fare as soon as they had it in their grasp.

"The inmates like the food, and that makes me happy," said Scott, a sheriff's lieutenant who oversees meal preparations for the jail.

Then came the reviews.

"It stinks," said Bobby Love, 46, a Compton resident jailed for a probation violation. Like his five cellmates, he spooned up the casserole, carrots and green beans while standing in the elbow-bumping space between metal bunks. "The food's always cold and the milk is hot."

Similar comments sounded up and down the cell tiers, the critics shirtless and tattooed, creating a boiler-room din: "Garbage!" "Disgusting!" "Give us steak!"

Decent chow is considered as crucial as tall walls to the orderly management of jails and prisons. Churning it out is often an assembly-line, security-obsessed and penny-pinching task that depends on inmate workers who might prove better at stealing food than cooking it.

And the quality and quantity of grub can mean the difference between peace and violence in the cellblocks, where prisoners long for the sirloins and sundaes that vanished with their freedom.

But even food that isn't bad enough to trigger a revolt is routinely described as revolting.

At Men's Central, the shouted protests covered the range of the jail's cuisine, although the chicken patties got a few thumbs up.

"The burritos are pretty good too," said DeMarcus Smith, 19, of Los Angeles, another probation offender. "But I don't even know what it was, what we had yesterday."

(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: crime; doingtime; freelunch; inmates; prisoners; punishment
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1 posted on 01/08/2005 2:08:29 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
bo freakin' who-who

They're lucky they're getting anything more than a UN approved humanitarian daily ration - which is all they'd be getting if I ran the place.
2 posted on 01/08/2005 2:12:12 AM PST by Keith in Iowa (Common Sense is an Oxymoron)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

"...inmate workers who might prove better at stealing food than cooking it."

LOL, what a quaint concept! I don't think the prison commissary has much to fear.

I am convinced it is IMPOSSIBLE to cook good food for really large numbers of people.


3 posted on 01/08/2005 2:28:22 AM PST by jocon307 (Ann Coulter was right)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

I heard if you get thrown in jail in Turkey, you're on your own. If someone doesn't bring you food, well, you starve..


4 posted on 01/08/2005 2:32:03 AM PST by djf
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"It stinks," said Bobby Love

But you see, Bobby, if we provided you with all those things you crave -- such as world-class gourmet meals,24-hour outcall "masseuse," and spacious penthouse cells -- you'd be too eager to come back after serving your time. We don't want to destroy your incentive for freedom. That would be cruel.

5 posted on 01/08/2005 2:34:19 AM PST by Bonaparte (Of course, it must look like an accident...)
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To: djf
In that situation, you could become food.
6 posted on 01/08/2005 2:36:24 AM PST by Bonaparte (Of course, it must look like an accident...)
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To: Keith in Iowa

Send 'em to Sherrif Joe in Maricopa County. Water and bologna sandwiches. Live in tents and use portajohns.

What makes these criminals think that society WANTS to treat them like kings?


7 posted on 01/08/2005 2:37:34 AM PST by clee1 (Islam is a deadly plague; liberalism is the AIDS virus that prevents us from defending ourselves.)
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Comment #8 Removed by Moderator

To: Keith in Iowa

I have followed the laws of orderly society and I contribute to this mortal stew everyday. I am taking my lovely wife out to dinner tonight for her birthday. Going to have a $40 steak, salad and potato.

I'll send these guys a nice hot plate first thing in the morning.


9 posted on 01/08/2005 3:03:41 AM PST by IamConservative (To worry is to misuse your imagination.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Bread and Water
10 posted on 01/08/2005 3:40:22 AM PST by bikepacker67 ("This is the best election night in history." -- DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe 11/2/04 8pm)
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To: jocon307
I am convinced it is IMPOSSIBLE to cook good food for really large numbers of people.
I take it, you've never been on a cruise ship.
11 posted on 01/08/2005 3:41:10 AM PST by bikepacker67 ("This is the best election night in history." -- DNC chairman Terry McAuliffe 11/2/04 8pm)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Funny, but I remember hearing the same sorts of comments in every school cafeteria that I ever ate in.


12 posted on 01/08/2005 3:47:57 AM PST by Fresh Wind (Where does bandwidth go when it is wasted?)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

And they serve the wrong wine with the meal.


13 posted on 01/08/2005 3:50:39 AM PST by HuntsvilleTxVeteran (expert, break it down, ex = has been, spurt = drip under pressure.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Tough.


14 posted on 01/08/2005 3:54:03 AM PST by dinodino
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

How about bread and water????....


15 posted on 01/08/2005 3:58:25 AM PST by Route101
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To: Fresh Wind

Hehe. I had not remembered that food until your post. 8^)

And we had to pay for it, unlike the inmates...


16 posted on 01/08/2005 4:07:10 AM PST by bill1952 ("All that we do is done with an eye towards something else.")
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Awwwwwwwwwww. Poor babies.


17 posted on 01/08/2005 4:14:25 AM PST by Non-Sequitur (Jefferson Davis - the first 'selected, not elected' president.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

This brings to mind one of the three times I found myself in a jail cell overnight (don't ask!) when some cop wandered over at some point and tried to hand me a tray. I realized afterward the I must've given him the most revolted, disdainful, contemptuous look I've probably ever given anyone. I actually felt slightly bad about it later. I was just taken aback by the question and really irate because I couldn't immediately track down whom I needed to post bail.

It's a wonder he didn't arrange to have me gangbanged or something (not that it would be altogether easy; I'm rather imposing and everyone in that holding cell stayed well out of my way, as visibly furious as I'm sure I was). And I actually thought that one cop was relatively friendly! (Well, he seemed somewhat beaten down and ready to call it a night to me LOL)


18 posted on 01/08/2005 4:29:19 AM PST by AntiGuv (™)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

PS. Almost needless to mention, I did not sample the food..


19 posted on 01/08/2005 4:30:08 AM PST by AntiGuv (™)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
You mean they don`t get served in their cells.They might miss their favorite cable TV show.

What kind of monsters have we become? < /sarcasm>

20 posted on 01/08/2005 4:32:32 AM PST by carlr
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