Death By Diet

Just back from my little garden, which is calling me to water it several times a day now that we're over 105F. It keeps producing elitist lettuce, somehow, and my brussels sprouts are coming along nicely. Then I read a prison menu at MotherJones and am really glad I have those fresh good things. Why don't they let prisoners feed themselves what they grow at these places?

Oh, right, the Cheneys are making their living off of the jail system.

FEAR AND LOAFING
VERMONT PRISONERS SAY NUTRALOAF IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL NOURISHMENT. PRISON OFFICIALS SAY IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.

"Nutraloaf is a 'food product' composed of 'whole wheat bread, non-dairy cheese, raw carrots, spinach, seedless raisins, Great Northern beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk, and dehydrated potato flakes;' these ingredients are 'mixed and baked.'" —Vermont appellate court brief, November 2006

"Nutraloaf is neither punishment, nor is its quality inferior to that of regular inmate meals...[It] is only provided to inmates who are placed in segregated confinement for the misuse of food and bodily waste." —Prison official's legal memorandum, Vermont Superior Court, September 2005

"If defendant wants to continue to spin out his Orwellian fantasy, and claim that nutraloaf is of the same 'quality' as normal prison food, this Court need only order a judicial tasting." —Prisoners' memorandum, Vermont Superior Court, September 2005

MEAN CUISINE
Prison moonshine, or pruno, is made by sealing fruit, sugar, ketchup, and water in a garbage bag, often stored inside a toilet for several days.

Tired of mess-hall food, some prisoners prepare "prison pizza"—a crust of ramen noodles and crushed chips or crackers, topped with cheese spread and sausage.

This sounds like offal from the school kitchen where I went to grammar school, something you wouldn't feed your family and they wouldn't eat. Doesn't it seem reasonable to let prisoners take care of their own needs, instead of making license plates? Making a plate of food instead would teach them something they could use, and give them the exercise they need.

I will offer you a few good pictures - Larry,DFH's pumpkin and my elitist lettuce. That looks to me like something that would engage a prison population - that would be doing something better for themselves than is being done for them.

Can the loaf.