WEBVTT - Short Stuff: Prison Food 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.240 Hello, and welcome to short stuff, the shortest stuff around. 0:00:09.080 --> 0:00:12.840 I'm Josh, there's Chuck, there's Jerry over there, and uh, 0:00:12.960 --> 0:00:14.920 this is short stuff in case you didn't catch it 0:00:14.960 --> 0:00:18.800 the first time around. Right, let's talk about prison food. Yeah, 0:00:18.920 --> 0:00:22.200 let's so prison food. Saying prison food is sort of 0:00:22.239 --> 0:00:25.480 like a joke, like an airplane meal that someone might 0:00:25.600 --> 0:00:29.280 use casually is to represent really bad food. I think 0:00:29.320 --> 0:00:34.040 prisoners would literally kill for an airplane food a while. 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:37.519 But there are more than two million people incarcerated in 0:00:37.520 --> 0:00:41.159 the United States, and that's a lot of people to feed. Uh, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:44.519 and we're not feeding them very well. And there are 0:00:44.600 --> 0:00:48.760 groups out there that advocates for prisoners who are on 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:50.600 the case and have been for a while trying to 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:54.360 get better food to prisoners. Uh. And this woman Loretta Refit, 0:00:54.560 --> 0:01:00.279 who works for she's a researcher for Prison Voice Washington. Um, 0:01:00.280 --> 0:01:02.600 she makes a good point. She's saying, listen, we're not 0:01:02.640 --> 0:01:06.240 saying prisoners don't want fle mignon, they don't want luxury foods. 0:01:06.560 --> 0:01:10.679 They just want food that's food, real food, real food, 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:14.839 and that also isn't like um, nutritionally deficit or deficient, 0:01:15.200 --> 0:01:17.200 you know. And let's get something out of the way. 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.120 If you're like, well, they're prisoners, Who cares if they 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:23.759 have tasty food or something like that, or something that's 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.360 not as high in sodium. Who cares? They're in prison. 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:29.200 They're not supposed to be coddled. Um. There's actually really 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:32.679 good answer to that, and that is that if we 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:35.199 if we are taking care of prisoners in a certain 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:37.800 way in prison, and again there's two million of them 0:01:37.800 --> 0:01:41.000 in in the United States alone, if they're eating terribly 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.319 over the course of years, they're also developing the kinds 0:01:44.360 --> 0:01:48.040 of chronic illnesses that come with eating terribly for years, 0:01:48.120 --> 0:01:52.320 like UM, heart disease and COPD and just about everything 0:01:52.360 --> 0:01:55.800 you can think of diabetes, UM. And then when they 0:01:55.840 --> 0:01:59.440 get out, they need healthcare or they need healthcare while 0:01:59.440 --> 0:02:02.320 they're in there too. And so whether they're on government 0:02:02.320 --> 0:02:05.840 assisted healthcare on the outside or prison healthcare on the inside, 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:08.600 you the guy who doesn't care whether they get good 0:02:08.639 --> 0:02:11.320 food or not on the inside is paying for that. 0:02:11.720 --> 0:02:14.360 And a really easy way to get around that is 0:02:14.440 --> 0:02:17.760 for them to just be served nutritious food to begin with. 0:02:18.120 --> 0:02:22.160 It's way cheaper than paying for healthcare on the back end. Yeah, 0:02:22.200 --> 0:02:24.960 there was a study done in two thousand twelve that 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:29.000 reported that sevent inmates and state and federal prisons and 0:02:29.160 --> 0:02:34.320 jails are obese, overweight, obese, or morbidly obese. UM. And 0:02:34.360 --> 0:02:37.399 I guess it is easy to say, like why give 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:40.480 them good food? They are in prison, we should give 0:02:40.520 --> 0:02:43.799 them gross tasting food. But like you said, it's not. 0:02:44.400 --> 0:02:46.080 It's one of these things like if you think about 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:48.960 the big picture, if one of your arguments is tax dollars, 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.520 tax dollars, why am I paying for this? You're gonna 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.440 be paying for more down the line, So maybe give 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.280 them some fruits and vegetables every now and then or 0:02:57.320 --> 0:03:00.839 on a daily basis, even like human beings. And I mean, 0:03:00.960 --> 0:03:03.519 if you're talking tax dollars and you're paying for their food, 0:03:03.639 --> 0:03:06.920 Like the amount of money that's spent on prisoners, if 0:03:06.960 --> 0:03:09.640 you look at it overall for the entire nation, I 0:03:09.720 --> 0:03:12.440 can't find that data. By the way, there's no there's 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:14.480 no data that says this is how much the US 0:03:14.440 --> 0:03:17.280 spends on food for prisoners every year. There's nothing like that. 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:21.280 It's more by state, even by jurisdiction. But I've seen 0:03:21.400 --> 0:03:25.680 something between a dollar twenty a day to about three 0:03:25.720 --> 0:03:30.440 dollars a day per prisoner. The average American eats on 0:03:30.639 --> 0:03:33.960 about eight dollars and twelve cents a day, So there's 0:03:34.000 --> 0:03:37.760 a very small amount of money being spent on prisoner food, 0:03:38.440 --> 0:03:41.080 which is one problem. But then the second problem that 0:03:41.120 --> 0:03:44.720 seems to be evolving over the years or has evolved recently, 0:03:45.160 --> 0:03:48.080 is there used to be prison kitchens, Like the food 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:52.120 was prepared there in the prison, and so that meant 0:03:52.120 --> 0:03:56.120 that the prison could kind of cater more toward inmates, 0:03:56.680 --> 0:04:00.440 um than they can now where the food preparation is 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:05.440 almost exclusively outsourced to companies like Era Mark or in Washington, 0:04:05.480 --> 0:04:11.840 there's one called UMU Corrections Institutions Food uh, and that's 0:04:11.880 --> 0:04:14.520 just a food service. So it's prepared off site, and 0:04:14.560 --> 0:04:18.360 it's just gotten really really bad, Like there's no such 0:04:18.360 --> 0:04:21.680 thing as fresh food anymore. It's all reheated in like 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.640 a tray basically. All right, well, let's come back in 0:04:24.640 --> 0:04:26.279 a minute. We'll talk a little bit more about that 0:04:26.360 --> 0:04:29.160 and some of the other complications of feeding two million 0:04:29.279 --> 0:04:50.320 incarcerated individuals right after this. Alright, so it is tough 0:04:50.400 --> 0:04:54.360 to feed that many people and keep expenses in check. 0:04:55.839 --> 0:04:58.080 I think anyone will admit, you can't just have an 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:02.160 open check book and just a it's been whatever it takes. UM. 0:05:02.160 --> 0:05:04.719 There are budgets to keep in mind, and it's complicated 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.880 when you think about UM. And this is something I 0:05:07.920 --> 0:05:11.520 don't think many people think about, but dietary needs, dietary 0:05:11.560 --> 0:05:17.320 restrictions UM based on your own body or religious grounds, 0:05:17.320 --> 0:05:21.560 whether it's kosher or halal or gluten free. Like I 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:23.920 never thought about what if you're gluten or dairy free 0:05:23.920 --> 0:05:26.880 and you're in prison, you probably just go hungry a 0:05:26.880 --> 0:05:31.799 lot or live with consistent intestinal distress, which would really suck, 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.719 you know, like that's that's ah. I saw a quote 0:05:34.720 --> 0:05:38.080 it's like prisons punishment enough, you know, like this doesn't 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.600 need to be heaped on top of it, something like 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:45.400 persistent intestinal distress. You know. Yeah, I mean it's you're 0:05:45.400 --> 0:05:49.960 certainly not making for UM more obedient prisoners if someone 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:52.400 is always sick. No, but I did look up. I 0:05:52.440 --> 0:05:55.279 wondered if there if there was a reason that UM 0:05:55.520 --> 0:06:00.800 that prisons deprived inmates nutrition going to lead to keep 0:06:00.839 --> 0:06:04.440 them like docile, or if it has the opposite effect. 0:06:04.520 --> 0:06:08.240 But apparently one of the big UM, one of the 0:06:08.240 --> 0:06:10.640 big problems, at least in Washington. But I would suspect. 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:16.279 It's probably nationwide. Is a deficiency of protein. There's just 0:06:16.320 --> 0:06:19.720 not enough protein and proteins pretty important. It's one of 0:06:19.800 --> 0:06:22.679 the big ones that you really need. Um. So there's 0:06:22.880 --> 0:06:27.000 less protein. The protein that is typically served to prisoners 0:06:27.440 --> 0:06:33.320 is hyper processed. Um. There's no fresh vegetables or anything 0:06:33.360 --> 0:06:36.680 like that. It's all like pre canned or cooked or 0:06:36.760 --> 0:06:41.800 frozen or something like that. And it's heavy in salt 0:06:41.960 --> 0:06:45.200 and sometimes sugar too. Just basically the worst food you 0:06:45.240 --> 0:06:50.400 could possibly eat, like like junk food made from filler. Yeah. 0:06:50.400 --> 0:06:53.840 And if you are if you do have dietary restrictions 0:06:53.839 --> 0:06:56.440 and that have health implications, like let's say you are 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.720 gluten free or have celiac, um, it will just take 0:07:00.800 --> 0:07:03.800 whatever has gluten off of your trade. They don't say like, well, 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:06.200 how would you like this instead, and you just get 0:07:06.279 --> 0:07:10.680 less food. Um. That sucks, man, Yeah, it does. There 0:07:10.760 --> 0:07:14.400 was And you talked about how much they're spending Amrrico, 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:19.000 Pa County, Arizona is very famous for Sheriff Joe and 0:07:19.040 --> 0:07:23.240 all the news he makes. UM and apparently their Thanksgiving meal. Um. 0:07:23.240 --> 0:07:25.920 There's a nonprofit journalism group called the Marshall Project that 0:07:25.960 --> 0:07:29.960 works on criminal justice issues. They did some investigating and 0:07:29.960 --> 0:07:33.080 found that the Thanksgiving meal in Merrico, PA County cost 0:07:33.160 --> 0:07:37.239 fifty six cents per person. It was a cup of carrots, 0:07:37.320 --> 0:07:40.680 a cup of mashed potatoes, and then five ounces of 0:07:41.000 --> 0:07:47.320 turkey soil, sorry, turkey soy casserole. Turkey soil. Probably not 0:07:47.440 --> 0:07:50.800 too far off, I agree. One of the people who 0:07:50.920 --> 0:07:55.920 are with one of the prison projects said, if you 0:07:55.960 --> 0:07:59.400 look at a can of organic cat food and the 0:07:59.520 --> 0:08:02.760 label of the ingredients, and you compare it to a 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.840 lot of the food that served in prisons, the organic 0:08:05.880 --> 0:08:09.600 cat food is preferable to the prison food, which is 0:08:09.960 --> 0:08:13.400 fairly shameful. But what about the honey buns. There's the 0:08:13.440 --> 0:08:16.120 honey buns. I also saw a recent one about a 0:08:16.240 --> 0:08:20.440 type of potato chip that is, um apparently so good 0:08:20.880 --> 0:08:24.200 that prisoners go crazy after they get out of prison 0:08:24.280 --> 0:08:26.800 because you can't find it outside of prison. It's made 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:31.920 specifically for prisons. It's called the Whole Shebangs and um. 0:08:31.960 --> 0:08:34.800 This company has caught on recently that people really want 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:36.680 this outside of prison, so now they sell it on 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:41.480 their website as well. But it's really expensive on their website. Um, 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:44.760 but it's just supposedly the greatest potato chips you can 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.160 you can never have. It's a combination of salt and 0:08:47.240 --> 0:08:50.520 vinegar and barbecue flavor. Well, but again, I mean I 0:08:50.559 --> 0:08:53.199 made the if you haven't heard Our Prisons episode, that's 0:08:53.240 --> 0:08:56.199 the reference to honey buns. Apparently that's a big that 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.720 have a lot of trade value. But um, jokes aside, 0:09:00.000 --> 0:09:02.520 any buns and even the greatest potato chips ever still 0:09:02.600 --> 0:09:07.280 junk food. You know, Yeah, yeah, honey buns and greatest 0:09:07.280 --> 0:09:11.839 potato chips ever definitely still do qualify as junk food. Agreed. Uh, 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.480 And again you know it's uh. And I know this 0:09:14.559 --> 0:09:17.920 is a divisive topic about how people treat prisoners. There 0:09:17.920 --> 0:09:21.000 are a lot of people think that they are pampered 0:09:21.000 --> 0:09:22.800 and aren't you know they should all be in hard 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:25.920 labor camps eating junk food. But again, if you really 0:09:25.960 --> 0:09:28.360 look at the big picture, and if you're worried about 0:09:28.400 --> 0:09:31.320 your tax dollars and where they're going, Um, you're spending 0:09:31.360 --> 0:09:34.360 a lot more on healthcare by feeding them bad food 0:09:34.679 --> 0:09:38.120 than just giving them some. And again, they're not asking 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.760 for filet mignon, but fruits and vegetables, real proteins that 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:45.560 isn't just like a heaping of beans. Yeah, just to 0:09:45.600 --> 0:09:48.440 put in real numbers. The Prison Policy Initiative, which is 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.160 a watchdog group, they did a study and they found 0:09:51.200 --> 0:09:56.880 that correctional facilities spend about six times more on healthcare 0:09:57.120 --> 0:09:59.640 than they do on food. And again, if you just 0:09:59.760 --> 0:10:02.719 raise is the quality of food up, it would definitely 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:06.600 not be six times more, you know, I do know. Yeah, 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:09.720 you got anything else for this episode of short stuff, Chuck, 0:10:10.200 --> 0:10:12.240 I got nothing else. I'm just gonna go sit down 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:17.680 and have some turkey ends and soil, turkey soil protein. Yeah. 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:20.120 Turkey ends was one of the ingredients in Turkey Alla King, 0:10:20.160 --> 0:10:21.880 which I tried to look up what that was, and 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.760 the only thing I could find that wasn't you know 0:10:26.520 --> 0:10:31.280 the country of turkey ends, blank um, was that it's 0:10:31.800 --> 0:10:35.840 the ends of a turkey roll, which in and of 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.920 itself doesn't sound like much of a turkey anyway. Although 0:10:38.920 --> 0:10:41.600 I can't tell you a turkey roll is really good, 0:10:41.800 --> 0:10:46.320 is it? Oh? Yeah? The one they come they're super frozen, 0:10:46.559 --> 0:10:50.600 solid as a brick in a foil pan, and you 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.240 put the whole thing in the oven for like three hours. 0:10:53.640 --> 0:10:58.880 But when it comes out, buddy, salty, I bet it's 0:10:58.960 --> 0:11:01.760 it's tasty, though you shouldn't need them very often. As 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:03.400 a matter of fact that I should probably not endorse 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:07.360 it at all. Well, at any rate. That's the end 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:09.880 of this short stuff. Hope it changed your mind about 0:11:09.920 --> 0:11:17.000 things until next time. Short Stuff out. Stuff you Should 0:11:17.040 --> 0:11:19.720 Know is a production of I Heeart Radios How Stuff Works. 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.120 For more podcasts for my Heart Radio, visit the iHeart 0:11:22.160 --> 0:11:24.840 Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:25.560 favorite shows.