Prison Diet

Here’s another reason not to break the law; prison food.

Seriously, this stuff is amazing.  And, not in a good way.
On the other hand, as brutal as it may seem, it does seem like it would make a pretty effective diet.  Recently, The Marshall Plan posted an article titled What’s In A Prison Meal? and I really found it eye-opening!  I know the prisoners are being punished for sometime terrible crimes, but some of these more restrictive prison menus seem like they border on cruel and unusual.
The article has photos of the meals described, though they’re “recreations” of the meals, not actual photographs of the meals and lawyers for some of the prisoners protesting the meals claim that’s part of the problem.  As terrible as some of these look, apparently, the inmates claim the actual meals are worse.  It’s a fascinating article, really, even though it’s brief.  For instance, did you realize that some states require that prisoners are given three meals in a 24-hour period?  Or that some states require prisoners to receive a minimum number of calories per day?  And, for a prison to be accredited by the American Correctional Association they have to have their menus approved by a registered dietician?  (I didn’t even know that there was such a thing as accreditation for prisons!)

In any case, I know it’s not my usual Friday posting topic, but food and what we feed people who don’t have much choice kind of fascinates me.  And, this article really got me because of the photos of the meals.  Go look and you’ll see what I mean.  It’s pretty amazing.
And, hey, when you go out tonight, be careful and stay out of jail or prison or whatever so you don’t have to suffer through meals like this, okay?