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| Prisons change meals to trim costs |
| By The New York Times |
| Published: 10/01/2003 |
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Texas officials are among those in a number of states, desperate to cut budget deficits, who have begun reducing the amount or quality of food served to prison inmates. The new food plans involve either reducing the number of calories provided daily or eliminating a meal on weekends and holidays. So far, officials in the states that have cut prisoners' food say inmates have not complained, and the nutritional value of the meals being served still meets national standards. Among these states are Virginia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Iowa, Texas and Arizona. Others, including Massachusetts, are beginning to experiment with the reduced diets in individual prisons. But experts say food is only a small portion of the overall cost of running a prison system -- about 80 percent of prison budgets go for officers' salaries -- so any saving achieved by reducing inmates' food will be minimal and is largely symbolic. "This kind of stuff never gets you very much money," said Michael Jacobson, a criminology professor at John Jay College in New York and a former corrections commissioner for New York City. "It is always incredibly marginal, and it shows a lack of political will to take on the larger issues, like releasing some nonviolent offenders to get real savings." Moreover, some advocates for prisoners and prisoners' families claim the new reduced diets are causing health problems. Joan Covici, president of the Dallas chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, said she receives hundreds of letters a month complaining about the new prison diet in Texas, where the state Criminal Justice Department has reduced the number of calories a day fed to 148,000 inmates to 2,500 from 2,800. Covici said she received a letter from the mother of a 20-year-old inmate who is 6-foot-4 and normally weighs about 190 pounds. The mother said his weight has dropped to 168 pounds with the new reduced diet introduced in May, and he is still losing weight. Covici said his mother believed that his sharp drop in weight had resulted in "deteriorated mental health" and had precipitated an episode of mania. Department spokesman Larry Todd said only calories have been reduced and the meals follow the Agriculture Department's recommendations. The state agency was forced to cut its budget by 5 percent or $230 million. Todd said about $6 million of the savings came from the reduced spending on food. Cheaper cuts of meat have been substituted for better grades, powdered milk has been substituted for whole milk and a juicelike drink for real juice. And there's careful attention to standardizing portions, said Janie Thomas, department director for laundry, food service and supply. |
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