1 00:00:01,960 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Rain Stuff 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: Lauren vogelbom here. The American prison system is an overcrowded, 3 00:00:11,000 --> 00:00:14,080 Speaker 1: sometimes draconian maze that houses more than two million people 4 00:00:14,240 --> 00:00:16,920 Speaker 1: in more than one thousand, seven hundred state prisons, one 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,440 Speaker 1: hundred and nine federal prisons, more than three thousand, one 6 00:00:19,520 --> 00:00:22,920 Speaker 1: hundred local jails, some one thousand, seven hundred juvenile facilities, 7 00:00:23,040 --> 00:00:27,560 Speaker 1: military prisons, immigration detention centers, psychiatric facilities, and on and 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 1: on and on. The many problems inherent in the setup 9 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:35,520 Speaker 1: are deep and disturbing, often overlooked, but still a critical issue. 10 00:00:35,680 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: The food in most lock ups is horrible. What the 11 00:00:39,159 --> 00:00:42,040 Speaker 1: system provides to those millions now incarcerated in the American 12 00:00:42,040 --> 00:00:44,680 Speaker 1: prison system is to many nothing short of a public 13 00:00:44,680 --> 00:00:47,599 Speaker 1: health crisis. Some might consider it a crime in itself, 14 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:52,400 Speaker 1: cruel and unusual. We spoke with Loretta Rafe, a policy 15 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,200 Speaker 1: researcher for the advocacy group Prison Voice Washington. She said, 16 00:00:56,640 --> 00:00:58,840 Speaker 1: when we're talking about the quality of the food, we're 17 00:00:58,840 --> 00:01:01,680 Speaker 1: not concerned with how the food tastes so much. Prisoners 18 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:04,520 Speaker 1: are not asking for tasty, luxury food. They just want 19 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: food that's nutritious, people think that prisoners are asking for 20 00:01:07,400 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 1: flam and yon. That's not it. They're just wanting food 21 00:01:09,959 --> 00:01:12,560 Speaker 1: that's not processed with a bunch of texturized vegetable protein 22 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:15,360 Speaker 1: and unhealthy oils and white flour. They just want fresh 23 00:01:15,440 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: vegetables and fruit and a sufficient amount of protein. The 24 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,240 Speaker 1: challenges in feeding a prison population that large and doing 25 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,240 Speaker 1: it cheaply enough that the taxpayers who fit the bill 26 00:01:24,280 --> 00:01:27,480 Speaker 1: don't revolt can't be downplayed. It's expensive to feed that 27 00:01:27,480 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 1: many prisoners. Estimates range in the millions of dollars a 28 00:01:30,520 --> 00:01:34,440 Speaker 1: year per state. It's complicated too, as it is on 29 00:01:34,480 --> 00:01:37,080 Speaker 1: the outside, one type of meal does not fit all. 30 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:40,679 Speaker 1: Some inmates require special diets on religious grounds at kosher 31 00:01:40,720 --> 00:01:43,479 Speaker 1: or halal, for example, or for health reasons like gluten 32 00:01:43,560 --> 00:01:47,080 Speaker 1: or dairy free. The rules on special requests vary from 33 00:01:47,080 --> 00:01:50,520 Speaker 1: state to state, and even from facility to facility. Many 34 00:01:50,520 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: prisons will accommodate requests when they can, but it's not 35 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:57,400 Speaker 1: always easy or effective. For example, an inmate in New 36 00:01:57,440 --> 00:01:59,640 Speaker 1: York went to court in twenty eighteen to force state 37 00:01:59,640 --> 00:02:01,960 Speaker 1: prisons to recognize his right to meals that did not 38 00:02:02,000 --> 00:02:04,320 Speaker 1: set off a dairy allergy and that were suitable for 39 00:02:04,360 --> 00:02:07,320 Speaker 1: his diet as a Nazarite Jew. A federal judge sided 40 00:02:07,360 --> 00:02:10,119 Speaker 1: with the state, ruling that the prisoner's demands would place 41 00:02:10,120 --> 00:02:13,320 Speaker 1: an undue burden on the state. Later, an appeals court 42 00:02:13,360 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: overturned that decision. The New York case noted that the 43 00:02:17,080 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: Upstate correctional facility has a kosher kitchen and a Kosher 44 00:02:20,080 --> 00:02:23,960 Speaker 1: meal plan, though that wasn't suitable for Nazarites. But many 45 00:02:24,000 --> 00:02:27,200 Speaker 1: prisons throughout the nation do not have specialized kitchens because 46 00:02:27,280 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 1: more and more have their meals prepackaged and shipped in 47 00:02:29,800 --> 00:02:33,400 Speaker 1: from off site vendors in order to cut costs. A 48 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:36,680 Speaker 1: twenty sixteen report by Prison Voice Washington described the situation 49 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:41,000 Speaker 1: like this as Correctional Industries, Washington State's prison food vendor, 50 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:44,519 Speaker 1: took over food services around the state. It gradually eliminated 51 00:02:44,560 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 1: all freshly prepared natural food without exception, every single main 52 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:52,600 Speaker 1: course is now a reheated, highly processed Correctional Industries product 53 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:55,720 Speaker 1: with high amounts of sodium. Apart from the occasional serving 54 00:02:55,720 --> 00:02:59,120 Speaker 1: of beans, lean natural proteins are never served at any meal. 55 00:02:59,480 --> 00:03:04,320 Speaker 1: Unprocessed meat is never served. For example, the word turkey 56 00:03:04,320 --> 00:03:06,880 Speaker 1: on the menu doesn't mean that inmates receive turkey meat, 57 00:03:07,080 --> 00:03:10,800 Speaker 1: but rather a processed formed product containing soy, protein, sugar 58 00:03:11,080 --> 00:03:14,600 Speaker 1: and some amount of turkey material, and even those simmered 59 00:03:14,639 --> 00:03:17,840 Speaker 1: beans a healthier choice were only offered five times per 60 00:03:17,840 --> 00:03:21,480 Speaker 1: every twenty eight days. Even if the food is prepared 61 00:03:21,480 --> 00:03:24,240 Speaker 1: in a way that meets religious or dietary requirements, that 62 00:03:24,280 --> 00:03:27,799 Speaker 1: doesn't mean it's nutritious or that the meal is balanced. Often, 63 00:03:27,840 --> 00:03:30,919 Speaker 1: if an inmate is, say, dairy intolerant, the dairy from 64 00:03:30,919 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: the meal is simply removed. Nothing replaces it. Aside from 65 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,520 Speaker 1: special needs meals, an average meal at an average jail 66 00:03:38,600 --> 00:03:42,280 Speaker 1: or penitentiary is about what you'd expect, often skimpy, locking 67 00:03:42,320 --> 00:03:46,520 Speaker 1: in nutrition and entirely on appetizing, and of course cheap. 68 00:03:47,040 --> 00:03:49,480 Speaker 1: According to The Guardian, in some prisons, inmates are fed 69 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:51,360 Speaker 1: on less than a dollar and twenty cents a day. 70 00:03:52,680 --> 00:03:56,360 Speaker 1: Thanksgiving meal at Maricopa County, Arizona Jail under former hardline 71 00:03:56,360 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 1: shriff Joe or Pyo cost fifty six cents. According to 72 00:03:59,400 --> 00:04:02,119 Speaker 1: the Marshall Price, which is a non profit journalism group 73 00:04:02,120 --> 00:04:05,160 Speaker 1: that works on criminal justice topics, the meal included a 74 00:04:05,160 --> 00:04:07,800 Speaker 1: cup of carrots, a cup of mashed potatoes, and the 75 00:04:07,880 --> 00:04:10,400 Speaker 1: main course five ounces, that's one hundred and forty one 76 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:15,440 Speaker 1: grams of turkey soy casserole. Riffey said, just go compare 77 00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: those labels to like an organic cat food label. Sometime 78 00:04:19,240 --> 00:04:21,040 Speaker 1: you'll see that there are a lot nicer cat food 79 00:04:21,040 --> 00:04:23,359 Speaker 1: products that a lot of prisoners would prefer to eat. 80 00:04:24,760 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: But they're prisoners, right, And the argument that because prisoners 81 00:04:28,720 --> 00:04:31,880 Speaker 1: have committed crimes that have warranted incarceration means they don't 82 00:04:31,880 --> 00:04:34,880 Speaker 1: deserve anything but the food basics ignores a basic truth. 83 00:04:35,440 --> 00:04:39,359 Speaker 1: Bad food leads to unhealthy eaters. Unhealthy eating leads to 84 00:04:39,360 --> 00:04:42,560 Speaker 1: health problems, and that leads to excessive health care costs. 85 00:04:44,440 --> 00:04:47,200 Speaker 1: A Department of Justice study in twenty eleven to twenty twelve, 86 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:49,760 Speaker 1: the last year that the National Inmate Study was conducted, 87 00:04:50,080 --> 00:04:52,240 Speaker 1: reported that seventy four percent of inmates in state and 88 00:04:52,279 --> 00:04:55,800 Speaker 1: federal prisons and jails are overweight, obese, or morbidly obese. 89 00:04:56,080 --> 00:04:59,760 Speaker 1: Health conditions that are tied to obesity include heart disease, stroke, diabetes, 90 00:04:59,800 --> 00:05:03,839 Speaker 1: and answer. A Prison Policy Initiative analysis found that quote 91 00:05:04,000 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: correctional agencies spend almost six times more on healthcare than 92 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:11,440 Speaker 1: on food, and who pays for the incarcerated who must 93 00:05:11,440 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 1: be treated for those types of diseases the taxpayers. So 94 00:05:15,520 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: in the end, cutting cost corners by slapping down meals 95 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,359 Speaker 1: lacking any nutritional value ends up costing everyone. The National 96 00:05:22,400 --> 00:05:25,320 Speaker 1: Commission on Correctional health Care, in a report to Congress 97 00:05:25,320 --> 00:05:28,039 Speaker 1: titled the Health Status of Soon to be Released Inmates, 98 00:05:28,200 --> 00:05:30,560 Speaker 1: points out the wisdom and paying more attention to what 99 00:05:30,640 --> 00:05:34,359 Speaker 1: prisons are serving than what they're spending on food. The 100 00:05:34,440 --> 00:05:37,719 Speaker 1: report said prisons and jails offer a unique opportunity to 101 00:05:37,800 --> 00:05:40,960 Speaker 1: establish better disease control in the community by providing improved 102 00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:43,839 Speaker 1: health care and disease prevention to inmates before they're released. 103 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:48,039 Speaker 1: That starts, advocates say, by putting better food on the tray. 104 00:05:53,200 --> 00:05:55,599 Speaker 1: Today's episode was written by John Donovan and produced by 105 00:05:55,640 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: Tyler Klang. Brainstuff is a production of iHeartRadio's House Stuff Works. 106 00:05:59,279 --> 00:06:01,640 Speaker 1: For born and us of other topics, visit our home planet, 107 00:06:01,680 --> 00:06:05,000 Speaker 1: HowStuffWorks dot com, and for more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit 108 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,839 Speaker 1: the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 109 00:06:07,839 --> 00:06:08,640 Speaker 1: your favorite shows.