Inmate too dangerous for air transfer
The multiple slices of white bread have been replaced by the likes of lentils and couscous on prison menus as the country’s 18 correctional facilities are now feeding inmates with healthier options.
One of principal instructor Jimmy Byrne’s last acts after nearly 31 years working for the Department of Corrections was to help update the 11-year-old menu for the prison population.
‘‘Unfortunately the public thinks prisoners should just get bread and water. They’re in prison as punishment, not to be punished. It’s not our job to make their time here difficult.’’
It costs on average $6.03 to feed a prisoner each day – with the old menu it was $5.98.
The new menu has them eating for breakfast Weet-Bix, milk, two pieces of toast, margarine and either jam or peanut butter – Marmite has been removed due to the yeast content, which could be used for making homebrew.
‘‘The bottom line is we’ve got a responsibility to be fiscally responsible and feed prisoners the best we can,’’ Byrne says. ‘‘Things have changed over the years. We are a lot more knowledgeable about nutrition, what the effect of nutrition has on behaviour.
‘‘The old style of working was we filled them up full of carbs the cheapest way we possibly could. There were 11 slices of white bread per day on the old one. There are now six slices of bread, but the bread now is also quality bread, it’s wholegrain.’’
The project took 15 months to roll out, with planning under way in July 2018 and menus starting in October last year.
‘‘Every recipe we came up with they were sent off and they were all put through a nutritionist and dietitians and they came back to us and said ‘look we’d like you to reduce, salt, sugar, red meat’ and we went and modified the recipes.’’
Byrne was able to streamline the 14 different menus, which used to range from the regular menu to medical and religious requirements, and separate food for women.
‘‘The women had less bread and more dairy and the nutritionist said ‘why are you doing that?’’’
There are now two-and-a-half menus, with the standard and a vegetarian menu, which is tweaked for vegans.
A prisoner must be medically diagnosed with a condition rather than it being a lifestyle choice to have a special menu.
‘‘We also get a lot of prisoners on non-chew diets, that’s basically because of the meth problem. Prisoners who have a history of meth use often their teeth fall out so they can’t chew, so they put on a puree diet or a soft diet.’’
Byrne also had to consider religious diets. ‘‘Because legally wherever possible we are to meet their cultural requirements, so if a Muslim prisoner comes in there is no pork product on the menu. That is because the number of Muslim prisoners in prison compared to 10 years ago has probably tripled.’’
Corrections have a legal requirement to provide three meals a day, one of which must be hot, and there can’t be more than 14 hours between meals.
And preparation is also a major consideration – at Spring Hill alone they have 1800kg of fruit, two tonnes of potatoes, 500 chickens, a week. And if sausages are on the menu 2000 of them need to be cooked. ‘‘That is why we did a lot of testing. Before this menu went live we were doing trials in every prison in the country and prisoners were giving feedback sheets to put in. We knew we were on a winner when we saw the quality of the feedback.’’
While Byrne doesn’t have a favourite dish he was surprised that they were well accepted by the prisoners.
‘‘The ones that we thought we might get some push back on but we didn’t were the ones with mince and they have lentils in it but we didn’t get any push back.’’