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| Lean meals let inmates, Essex jail tighten belts |
| By Star-Ledger |
| Published: 05/10/2004 |
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When the Essex County (N.J.) jail reduced inmates' daily calories last month, it joined a national trend: Prisons across the country are finding that the easiest way to cut costs is to cut calories. Inmates are no longer heading to the cafeteria for heaping helpings of beef sausage and buttered grits spooned out on trays. Instead, they are getting low-fat milk and dressing with the calories counted out as if they were on a Weight Watchers diet. While the trend started in state prisons in North Carolina, Minnesota, Arizona and Texas, it has trickled down to the local level. Beginning last month, officials at the Essex County jail lowered inmates' daily caloric intake from 3,200 to 2,600. Many of the jails stress they are not only reducing calories but are also offering better meals through a heart-healthy diet that emphasizes less fat, less salt, less cholesterol and more fiber. Some are predicting long-term health benefits for their often sedentary inmates and long-term savings for prisons. In September, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice -- the nation's third-largest prison system with 148,000 inmates -- put inmates on a diet, giving them 2,400 to 2,700 calories a day, said Janie Thomas, who oversees laundry and food services for the prison population. The state's budget needed to be leaner, and so did the inmates, she said. The reduction is saving the state $2.5 million a year, according to food service budget records. Aramark Correctional Services Inc., which provides more than 1 million meals a day to inmates, and employees at 450 jails nationwide, began noticing the trend three years ago, said Dan Jameson, the company's senior vice president. In New Jersey, Aramark has contracts with 16 counties. Although Camden County has been in discussions to gradually move to the new diet, Essex County is the first in the state to go with the complete new menu, Jameson said. |
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