COLUMBIA — A lawsuit by three South Carolina inmates that makes a host of stomach-turning food-service allegations against the state has been moved from Charleston County to Richland County.

The 10-page hand printed lawsuit, filed in December, calls the conditions at the state’s Lieber Correctional Institution in Dorchester County “deplorable” and accuses its employees of committing “grossly negligent acts.” It targets the state Department of Corrections, the Department of Health and Environmental Control, and the Department of Agriculture. Report by The Augusta Chronicle.

“An awful, innumerable, and unbelievably overwhelmingly (sic) amount of flies were present in the dining room,” reads the inmates’ complaint, which includes a request for $30,000 in damages.

The inmates who are suing are Patrick L. Booker, 26, convicted of armed robbery, Bobby A. Gilbert, 34, convicted of murder, and Patrick Strozier, 46, who is serving a kidnapping sentence.

Their lawsuit also says that since 2009, the prison officials failed to ensure that inmate kitchen workers did their jobs. The result, they said, is a dining room floor that is “absolutely filthy with gross removable black soot, dirt and grime.”

When asked about the suit over the summer, a spokesman for the corrections department declined to comment, because the dispute was pending.

The inmates said the food they were served contributed to weight loss, headaches, listlessness, anxiety and depression.

Other allegations detailed in the suit include:

• Inmates were served “spoiled, greenish and undone meat; stale, molded bread; rotten boiled eggs; undercooked cold rice; flowered down and watery gravy; overcooked beans; soogie (sic) brownish lettuce; cold soup; spoiled and contaminated milk; cold, harden (sic) bread rolls and biscuits … long expired items such as ketchup, salad dressing, meats and discolored tomato paste.”

• Prison staff flouted state regulations that require them to post the food service grade and score and inspection records. The inmates also say they were served food labeled, “not for human consumption, animal feed.”

• Since May 2009, prison leadership engaged in “unfair trade practices” in order to cut costs and further their “kickback scheme.”

The American Correctional Association had no data on the number of grievances filed regarding food service in South Carolina prisons or across the nation. But a staff member said he could not recall receiving any reports about the conditions in prison kitchens or of the quality of food.

Tammy Food Services, Inmate Grievances, Jail and Prison Conditions, South Carolina

Price increases at prison snack shops have angered inmates and caused at least one reported case of violence at a Florida prison.  From the Miami Herald.

The state raised prices about three weeks ago under a new contract with an outside company. Since then, the department has gotten at least 60 phone calls and letters from inmates and their families complaining about the hikes.   The Department of Corrections says it’s working to see if some prices can be lowered, but costs are going up everywhere. Some of the price changes: Peanut M&Ms and Snickers (66 cents to 89 cents), a can of Coke (57 cents to 89 cents) and a Honey Bun pastry (66 cents to 99 cents).

vericatrajkova Florida, Food Services

For the first time in nearly 20 years, Linn County OR Jail has begun serving inmates a cold rather than a hot breakfast in order to save money.

In these tough financial times, “two hots and a cold” will save the county about $38,000 a year. The jail feeds an average population of 210 inmates.    The food service provider, Aramark, charges $1.50 per meal and provides three meals a day. The previous cost per meal was $1.64.  Aramark suggested changing to a cold breakfast as a way to save the jail some money. Capt. Barry Baggett of the sheriff’s office presented it to the sheriff, and he agreed …

Examples of the “continental” breakfast include peanut butter bars, hard-boiled eggs and fruit. Wednesday’s breakfast at the jail was a big biscuit with apple jelly and butter, a cinnamon roll, a cup of coffee and a carton of milk … Previous to the change, inmates were eating oatmeal, hot wheat cereal, hard-boiled and scrambled eggs, pancakes, or biscuits and gravy.

vericatrajkova Aramark, Economic Issues, Food Services, OR Linn County, Oregon

State Rep. John Proos said Gov. Granholm is putting public safety at risk through a state corrections budget that releases prisoners to make up for budget shortfalls.  Reported by the Herald-Palladium.

Proos wrote in a press release. “The governor has predicated her corrections budget on releasing nearly 3,886 prisoners. That is unacceptable, especially without first considering reforms and cost-saving measures.”  The governor should look for opportunities for reform, Proos said. Instead, her budget for the Michigan Department of Corrections would release 147 prisoners a day until Oct. 1, he said …

John Cordell, public information officer for the corrections department, said the department carefully evaluates prisoners before releasing them.   “Can we ensure that none of these 3,000 prisoners ever commit a crime again? No, we can’t,” Cordell said. “Nor can we assure the 12,000 prisoners we parole every year won’t commit a crime again.”    But the department is doing all it can to screen prisoners and to have support and re-entry systems in place to help them “become better citizens, viable and productive citizens,” Cordell said. That includes increasing the number of parole officers, increasing “real-time GPS tethers so we can accurately track where offenders are” and increasing funding for re-entry services from $25 million to $50 million in the next fiscal year, he said.

Proos said the state could save: $30 million by stopping corrections employee pay raises; $60 million by reducing overtime offered; $5 million by consolidating administrative offices; $3.5 million by streamlining transportation of prisoners; and $30 million by reducing cost of food services.   The June 2008 Auditor General’s report states: “The Department of Corrections should analyze the potential outcomes of hiring private contractors to provide prisoner meals at its correctional facilities … Based on these costs per prisoner per day, we estimate that Michigan could save from $10.2 million to $38 million annually” …

Cordell said the department has cut nearly $500 million from its budget since fiscal 2001-02. Releasing between 3,500 and 4,000 prisoners – all of whom are “past their minimum sentence date” – will save some $125 million in the next budget year, he added.

vericatrajkova Early Release, Economic Issues, Food Services, Michigan, Probation and Parole

Adams County PA will soon get into the culinary business – in jail.  Starting in June, the county will be providing its own food service at Adams County Prison. The current contractor, Aramark Food Services, chose to cancel its contract with the county effective June 18, as reported by the Hanover Evening Sun.

County Solicitor John Hartzell said the contract allowed for Aramark to choose not to renew with 90 days notice. The contractor planned on raising its rates by 25 cents per meal per prisoner, about a 5 percent increase. The county did not agree with the rate hike, believing they could do the job cheaper, or at least at the same cost as the contractor prior to the hike, Commissioner George Weikert said. Commissioners also said prison officials were not happy with the quality of the food served by Aramark …

Commissioner Glenn Snyder said some of the cost will be curtailed with the county in control because the county can use vegetables grown in the prison’s new garden. Vegetables from the garden were used last year, but there was no reduction in the contractor’s cost.   Weikert said that prisoner-maintained garden should yield more this year because it will be bigger, and will have better-quality soil …

Prior to the proposed rate increase, the contract was priced depending on the number of inmates. For example, at 151 to 160 prisoners, the cost was $1.58 per meal. It lowered in steps, such as to $1.37 per meal for 200 to 210 inmates and was $1.20 for 300 to 310 inmates.

vericatrajkova Aramark, Food Services, PA Adams County, Pennsylvania

Correctional Service Canada’s (CSC) recent announcement that it plans to cut farm operations at six prisons, two of which in Kingston, Ontario, has raised eyebrows in some circles.  Report from Kingston This Week.

Craig Jones, executive director of the John Howard Society of Canada, said the decision could prove beneficial if the money from the sales are used on new educational and rehabilitation programs for inmates.  “I have no idea what they’re going to do with that land, but it’s extremely valuable real estate,” said Jones, from his Kingston office. “If it’s sold and the money goes into new educations programs, I’ll be standing on the sidelines and cheering.”

Jones stressed he has nothing against the concept of inmates working a farms – something the National Farmers Union (NFU) says is an exceptional way for an inmate to learn life skills.  The question that lingers in his mind is whether the farming experience is beneficial enough that the government shouldn’t consider selling the land. He said he honestly doesn’t know the answer, as, to his knowledge, no recent studies have been done on the programs.  “I have not been able to locate a body of peer-reviewed evidence endorsing the prison-farm program, particularly given the huge demand for things like basic adult education,” he said …

The NFU believes the decision was short-sighted. Its president, Stewart Wells, wrote to Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan, expressing displeasure for writing off agriculture “as fundamental cornerstone of the Canadian economy.”   NFU executive-secretary Terry Pugh elaborated on issue, saying that inmates on penitentiary farms learn machinery skills and responsibility and social skills that can translate into any profession they may enter upon release.“The attitude that these inmates aren’t learning anything useful because farming is an obsolete career path is very upsetting to us,” he said.

vericatrajkova Canada, Food Services, Inmate Programs

Vermont inmates who use utensils to throw bodily waste or food can’t be placed on a special diet without first going through a disciplinary process, a divided Vermont Supreme Court ruled Friday.  This report from the Burlington Free Press.

The court ruled that before inmates can be fed only water and Nutraloaf, a nutritionally complete but unappetizing concoction, they must be given due process of law … Vermont Human Services Secretary Rob Hofmann, who oversees the Department of Corrections, said prison staff would abide by the Supreme Court ruling, but he was disappointed.   “It effectively will require us to wait 24 hours and then hold a hearing,” said Hofmann, who until November was the state’s Corrections commissioner. “It will afford offenders a minimum of three more occasions to use waste, food or utensils to assault our colleagues” …

Nutraloaf and its variations have been used across the country for decades.  It is designed to be a complete meal served without utensils. It is made of whole wheat bread, nondairy cheese, carrots, canned spinach, raisins, beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk and potato flakes, mashed together and baked in a loaf pan.    In 1978, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that an equivalent food used in Arkansas might be tolerable for a few days, but “intolerably cruel for weeks or months.” In 1988, a federal judge ruled the Michigan Department of Corrections’ use of Nutraloaf was punishment …

In a dissent, Chief Justice Paul Reiber said the majority decision undermined the department’s ability to manage the state’s prisons because some inmates might prefer sandwiches to prison food.  “The department faces a Hobson’s choice of either providing misbehaving inmates with their choice of foods that are likely more appetizing than standard prison fare, thereby encouraging the very behavior that it needs to prevent, or simply doing nothing,” said Reiber’s dissent.

vericatrajkova Food Services, Vermont

Feeding inmates, tending to their medical needs and a possibility that crime could increase this year were all topics Stephens County OK Sheriff Wayne McKinney shared with county commissioners this week, as reported by the Duncan Banner.

To feed a county inmate these days averages about $3.30 a day. McKinney told the commissioners that he’s hoping to reduce that to about $2.50 to $2.75 a day.   In January, the budget for food and beverage was set at $15,725 and expenses came in at $4,600.25 under that allotted amount. The expenses totaled $11,124.75 for the month.  McKinney told the commissioners there is a lot of work being done to control those expenses. One measure includes having a nutritionist so healthier meals are served and not so much “chicken fried steak.” … There were 10,092 meals prepared.

The Sheriff also discussed rising health care costs and how he is working to alleviate the problem.

Now those inmates will have to pay a $5 fee each time they visit a nurse and they will be charged for over-the-counter drugs, such as cold medicines, if they request them. McKinney hopes that will reduce some of those costs, which ultimately come out of taxpayers’ pockets.  “It’s not our responsibility to supply them with those drugs,” he said. “Hopefully, this will curb those requests. That system is prime for abuse.”

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Food Services, Inmate Health, OK Stephens County

The agency that runs Louisiana’s prisons is trying to cut costs by turning kitchen grease into biodiesel fuel.

State Rep. Tom McVea … warned state Department of Corrections’ officials that they will have to be creative.  “Y’all got quite a challenge on your hands. … There’s got to be some innovative thinking,” McVea said during a meeting of the legislative Subcommittee on Public Safety and Corrections.   With state general fund revenue expected to drop by $1.2 billion in the upcoming budget year that starts July 1, agencies are slashing travel, halting hiring and looking for other ways to trim costs …

The corrections department is vulnerable because 88 percent of its $543 million budget comes from the state general fund, which is suffering a downturn in revenue. The agency spends 70 percent of its budget — or $382 million — on salaries and benefits.  The agency’s undersecretary, Thomas Bickham, said his agency is trying to cut costs through privatizing services such as food.   He said the department also is buying equipment to turn kitchen grease into biodiesel fuel.  “We produce a lot of grease at our institutions. We fry a lot of food for these guys,” Bickham said.

There is more information from The Advocate.

vericatrajkova Economic Issues, Environment and Energy, Food Services, Louisiana

Two new programs that provide additional work opportunities for inmates at the Bradford County PA jail are now up and running, the warden said.  The Daily Review reports:

Last month, the county moved its print shop from the Bradford County Courthouse to the jail.   The print shop is now up and running at its new location, said Warden Donald Stewart … Inmates who work at the print shop are going to have the opportunity to become certified by the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute, Stewart told the prison board at its meeting on Thursday.  “That (certification) will help them hopefully with their job skills,” the warden said.   A few weeks ago, a new program was launched at the jail under which a number of female inmates launder linens that are brought over from the Bradford County Manor, Stewart said …

The warden also said that the jail’s kitchen will be saving approximately $4,000 to $5,000 a year by making a number of food items on its own, rather than purchasing pre-made items.

vericatrajkova Food Services, Inmate Labor, Inmate Programs, PA Bradford County, Pennsylvania, Re-Entry