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Good nutrition from the ground up
By Barbara Wakeen, MA, RD, LD
Published: 04/30/2007

0425food Providing adequate nutrition and controlling food costs are two key goals of the corrections food service department. This is often achieved via purchasing power, bids and, in some cases, growing and raising needed food. Some jails and prison systems operate on-site gardens and farms to produce vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs and milk.

Some gardens are seasonal, depending on geography, and contribute quantities sufficient to incorporate into facility menus. Others are full functioning farms year-round providing sufficient quantities to sustain the prison food service operations. Still, other institutions/agencies grow items for non-inmate consumption. Below is a survey of what corrections dietitians and food service directors nationwide has to say about their food programs.

Prison Systems

In Georgia, the Department of Corrections has operated farms since the 1930s and currently operates a large scale farming operation with more than 14,000 acres and a few gardens.

The GDOC runs a self-sustaining operation, which, under its food and farm services division, manages the Georgia Food Service, Farm Services, and processing plants. By overseeing its own canning, slaughtering, and processing of fresh vegetables, meat and milk, the GDOC can control all aspects of the menu planning, and in turn, produce the farm items based on menu requirements. It even operates a grits mill that produces 100 percent of their facilities' grits and cornmeal needs.

According to Food and Farm Services Director, Norman Wilson, his division produces:
  • 100 % of the beef, pork, eggs and milk;
  • 100% of DOC needs for canned vegetables: beets, Irish potatoes, carrots, kale, collards, turnips, squash, field peas and sweet potatoes;
  • Fresh vegetables like broccoli, cabbage, squash, corn, cucumbers, greens, cauliflower, tomatoes, peppers, okra and onions; and
  • Strawberries, blueberries and blackberries for seasonal use.
Forty-five percent of the food consumed by Georgia's inmate population is grown on their farms.

In California, the Prison Industry Authority (PIA) is a self-supporting state agency created in 1982 to operate California prison industries much like private industry. The PIA works in conjunction with the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) to provide work opportunities for approximately 5,500 adult inmates. This inmate work program includes agriculture, services, and manufacturing.

The PIA is in charge of the following agricultural industries:
  • Growing almonds and packaging one ounce packages for CDCR sack lunches;
  • Raising chickens for shell and frozen eggs only;
  • Raising cows for milk production for the state's feeding programs.
According to CDCR Departmental Food Administrator Sue Summersett, PIA also has other non-agriculture food industries that involve value– added services and manufacturing to maximize resources and nutrition goals while controlling costs. These include:
  • A beef processing plant for state consumption. Beef is purchased and made into products like hamburger, franks, sausages, stew meat, and Salisbury steak;
  • Coffee roasting, grinding and packaging for state consumption;
  • Making sliced loaf bread for approximately 10 institutions;
  • Packaging individual portions for items like peanut butter and jelly, bread slices, and cookies; and
  • Making and packaging 100 percent fruit juice in 4 ounce cartons.
The New Jersey Department of Corrections (NJDOC) does not operate a large scale farm or garden; however, it does run a vegetable and fruit processing center in conjunction with the New Jersey Department of Agriculture Department. The DOC meets with local growers for forecasted items and plans seasonal menus accordingly.

"The Department purchases fresh fruits and vegetables from local farmers in New Jersey when an over production of an item occurs or when retail specifications are not met. We also check to see that items are not nutritionally compromised before serving,” says Christine Vaughan, consultant dietitian for the agency's Field Services Office.

Salads, carrot sticks, celery and vegetables are processed by the "AgriIndustries" part of NJDOC's Office Field Services, and are for inmate consumption.

Jails and Detention Facilities

In northern states like Michigan, county jails operate gardens as weather permits. Food service, security and inmates have active roles in garden operations.

At Huron County Jail, Dorothy Cole, the food service manager for contract management company Canteen Services, says she assists in planning what is grown in the one-and-half acre garden. She also oversees what is brought into the kitchen, as the work crew leader oversees plans and seed planting as well as produce picking. Garden items include a variety of vegetables including carrots, green beans, winter squash, onions, pepper, cucumbers and corn as well as cabbage and tomatoes.

These items fulfill the facility's menu requirements and excess produce is frozen for later use.

St. Joseph's County operates a three-acre vegetable and fruit garden. For the last 15 years, Canteen Services food service manager, Gaylene Herrington, has been tending to the jail's garden and decides what will be grown.

“Usually the orange trustees do the garden, but a lot of times I go out and pick cucumbers and tomatoes with a couple of my kitchen trustees. They usually ask me what I need and then they pick that in five-gallon buckets and bring it to the back door,” Herrington explains.

St. Joseph's grows many of the same vegetables as Huron County does in addition to watermelon and cantaloupe.

The Minnesota Department of Corrections incorporates seasonal garden produce into menus at two boot camps - Moose Lake/Willow River, which are actually two separate locations. The Challenge Incarceration Program(CIP)has farmed a small, state-approved garden until recently, and grew seasonal produce like potatoes, tomatoes, radishes, green beans and chives. Five offenders are assigned to garden detail and work in the garden for the six months of their incarceration until they leave.

“We support the offenders to eat vegetables; and in the past, we have put out tomato trays for lunch with other vegetables on an every other day basis. This year we will not grow a garden due to expanding, but hope to have a garden back the following year,” says CIP Moose Lake/Willow River food service director, Robert Utech.

In contrast to the aforementioned, there are agencies that have gardens, but not for inmate consumption.

In Missouri, for example, the DOC no longer has farms, but a few institutions have gardens. Any produce grown is given back to the community through the Restorative Justice Program and it is not used to feed offenders.

Within the New York City DOC, on-site, seasonal vegetable gardens have been planted for many years and supplement staff menus. Inmates do, however, work in these gardens, but they cannot sustain the large number of offenders. The Director of Nutritional Services is advised of the vegetables being grown, which usually includes cabbage, broccoli, zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers.

In California, county facilities operate farms and gardens, ranging from large farms where fruits and vegetables are grown and processed for multiple sites, to small gardens reserved for the staff dining room.

One dietitian said she meets with the farm supervisor and requests foods to be grown that reflect facility menus. The food service department has some input as to what is grown, however the farm supervisor makes the final decision. Fresh produce items are incorporated into menus, and/or appropriate substitutions are made to whatever fruit or vegetable is on the menu. Produce orders from outside vendors are adjusted based on farm production availability.

As exemplified above, gardens and farms in corrections operate at different levels for different outcomes, but produce positive benefits for all. Gardens and farms are multidisciplinary, involving administration, security, food service and inmates.

Many inmates in these agencies literally ‘reap what they sow' and vice-versa. Gardens and farms become part of work assignments and sentencing to some degree and serve as a perk for a trustee who is allowed to work outside of the facility. Their involvement maximizes resources, increases activity and morale, and offers a sense of inmate pride.

Nutrition-wise, when possible, always use fresh produce, which is better than frozen, which is better than canned. Of course, this is not always feasible when feeding large populations, and is contingent upon availability of these perishable items. However, gardens and farms, even if only seasonal, do offer many positives to nutrition, costs and resources.

Barbara Wakeen is a registered licensed dietitian and has owned and operated Correctional Nutrition Consultants since 1995. She specializes in the provision of foodservice and nutritional consultation to correctional facilities, food contractors, food processors, manufacturers and food distributors across the country. Wakeen has more than 18 years of correctional food and nutrition experience as a consultant, corporate dietitian and district manager. She can be contacted at bwakeen@neo.rr.com.

Related resources:
USDA National Agriculture Library



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