PRISON FOOD WITH A PURPOSE
Recipe contest to raise legal defense funds uses only commissary cuisine
Instant noodles. Sausage links. Refried beans. Frito chips.
Not exactly the items most associated with fine cuisine or food competitions. But these are no regular ingredients, and this is no regular food competition.
Last month, Pillars of the Community — in partnership with the Asian Solidarity Collective — hosted a “spread food” event in southeastern San Diego in an effort to raise money for the legal defense of a local man serving a life sentence in state prison. The event is one of many the nonprofit has organized to further its mission of community organizing and helping individuals affected by the criminal justice system.
The Asian Solidarity Collective also focuses on community, specifically building solidarity among Asian Americans and other people of color.
“Spread food” is a term used to describe meals people make in prison using only the ingredients available to them in a commissary. The food is usually purchased using money sent from family members, and incarcerated individuals
have found creative ways of making meals.
About 100 people attended the event, which was held at an outdoor space called The Spot, near Pillars of the Community’s main office on Imperial Avenue. There was live music, home-cooked food, speeches by local community members and on-the-spot T-shirt screen printing.
Lon Chhay’s wife and family prepared food for the event, which included carne asada and chicken tacos.
Chhay, a member of Pillars of the Community who helped organize the event, met Konesavanh
Donald Sirypangno in 2009 while both were being held at South Bay County Jail. Chhay recalled a moment when he was hungry, and Sirypangno offered him food from his own commissary supply.
“He could have easily kept that all to himself because the commissary food is expensive,” Chhay said. “So instead of him holding it to himself ... he thought about me.”
Sirypangno and a co-defendant were convicted of first-degree murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, stemming from a June 2005 shooting at a Mira Mesa house party that
The incident occurred at an off-road racing event on Saturday afternoon in the town of San Vicente, south of Ensenada. It began when armed men in a black Infinity van shot at a group of people who were on the promenade. Gunfire was then returned.
The prosecutor’s office attributed the violence to a confrontation between two organized crime groups.
Prosecutors believe the target in the shooting was Alonso Arámbula, alias “El Trébol,” an alleged drug trafficker who was in an offroad vehicle marked with
that nickname, along with three other people, including a municipal leader representing the San Antonio de las Minas community in Ensenada. The attorney general confirmed a report from Mexican media outlet Reforma that Arámbula and the local official were among the dead.
The van involved in the incident was found abandoned, pierced with bullet holes. According to the prosecutor’s office, the van had been reported stolen in California.
More than 200 shell casings were found at the scene. The prosecutor’s office said that 13 weapons — nine long guns and four handguns — were involved. None of them
have been located by law enforcement.
No one had been arrested as of Monday evening.
The incident was captured on videos that circulated quickly online.
The GoFundMe page for Ayala includes a message from his wife, who said he was an innocent bystander.
She said her husband worked as a semi-truck driver, and he was “very loving, smiling, generous.” His family knew him as “The Cheerful Boy.”
“His 4 year old daughter is still waiting for her ‘super hero daddy’ to come home,” the page states. “And there are no words on how to tell her that he won’t be coming back.”
The GoFundMe page, launched Sunday to raise money to send his body back to San Diego and for burial services, had reached more than $20,000 in donations in a day.
Carpio, the attorney general, told reporters on Monday that state authorities are in direct communication with U.S. authorities.
“Ensenada is a safe place, eventually these types of events happen, which we regret very much,” Carpio said, “but we are working to stop these people.”