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| Legal jam over prisons' supply of peanut butter and jelly |
| By San Francisco Chronicle |
| Published: 07/27/2001 |
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Without peanut butter and jelly, state bureaucrats believe, California's prisons would be a far more dangerous place. The kindergarten treat is the heart of a twisted dispute between a San Ramon food distributor named Adam Clingerman and the vast state Department of General Services and its army of buyers. General Services recently declared that a state of emergency exists in the state's prisons, mainly to bypass their own regulations and award a $1.9 million contract for peanut butter and jelly to one of Clingerman's competitors -- Sun West Mercantile Inc. of Corona (Riverside County). Inmates are 'heavily invested emotionally' in certain foods and could riot if the prison cut off their daily two-ounce ration of creamy peanut butter and strawberry or grape jelly, the state declared. The current 'emergency' shortage came after General Services buyers refused to renew Clingerman's contract for another year, even though his bid was $175, 000 lower than any other. The state said the sample packages Clingerman provided didn't have a perforated line separating the peanut butter portion from the jelly portion. Inmates said they wanted perforated portions in order to eat the peanut butter and save the jelly for later, or the other way around. The case landed recently in Sacramento County Superior Court, where a judge issued an injunction against General Services. The judge halted the $1 million, six-month 'emergency' contract to Clingerman's competitor and said the state gave 'no evidence that some minimum number of peanut butter squeezers must be available to . . . prevent riots.' |
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