Forget porridge: today’s prisoners get a nutritionally balanced diet

WHEN you think of prison food, the image that comes to mind is one of thin gruel or stodgy fare that is barely edible. The reality might surprise you. Eoin McLoughlin, who heads the kitchen at Dublin’s Wheatfield Prison explains that balance is an important component of planning prisoners’ meals. He operates a 28-day menu cycle.

‘Over the course of 28 days, the prisoners are getting a balanced nutritional diet,’ he says. ‘It’s our obligation to make sure that these guys don’t come out of prison obese or malnourished so we try to get a nice balance which looks after their requirements.’

On the day that the Irish Mail on Sunday visited, this reporter was handed a white coat before being given access to the prison kitchen.

‘A prison kitchen equates to a hotel kitchen in terms of standards,’ said Eoin. ‘It’s all freshly cooked food that is prepared here each day.’

The kitchen in Wheatfield is staffed with about 25 inmates and in-house prison chefs. Unlike some hospitals, the Irish Prison Service runs a ‘cook-fresh’ system.

‘The big thing in here is the quality of the food we prepare,’ said Eoin. ‘The guys we train at least have an understanding of preparing a fresh meal when they eventually leave prison. And the hope is that instead of the local chipper, they will prepare their own breast of chicken.’