In old movies and cartoons, it was common to see someone use a cake to smuggle a file, which they could use to break themselves out, into an inmate at the local prison. At the cartoon end, the file could be replaced with anything from dynamite to a jackhammer, as the characters didn't have to be particularly subtle to get themselves out of the slammer. Things have to be done more subtle for those who want to smuggle things into prisons in real life, but food can still play a roll. A prison guard at Leflore County jail in Mississippi was arrested after he was caught smuggling in money and marijuana in a large pile of mashed potatoes (That green stuff? Those are just chives...) in at lunch time, when an unidentified woman dropped them off for him. His undoing was a food preference issue, not being careless with the contraband itself. The thing that made investigators suspicious was that the officer said that he didn't eat potatoes and couldn't explain why he was getting such a large portion of them delivered to him at work.Posts with tag prison
Contraband, by way of mashed potatoes
In old movies and cartoons, it was common to see someone use a cake to smuggle a file, which they could use to break themselves out, into an inmate at the local prison. At the cartoon end, the file could be replaced with anything from dynamite to a jackhammer, as the characters didn't have to be particularly subtle to get themselves out of the slammer. Things have to be done more subtle for those who want to smuggle things into prisons in real life, but food can still play a roll. A prison guard at Leflore County jail in Mississippi was arrested after he was caught smuggling in money and marijuana in a large pile of mashed potatoes (That green stuff? Those are just chives...) in at lunch time, when an unidentified woman dropped them off for him. His undoing was a food preference issue, not being careless with the contraband itself. The thing that made investigators suspicious was that the officer said that he didn't eat potatoes and couldn't explain why he was getting such a large portion of them delivered to him at work.Fast food in prisons?
The New York Department of Corrections is thinking about putting some fast food on Riker's Island. The food won't be for the inmates - though some nutritionists and others who are not fans of fast food would probably feel that it could be considered a punishment - it will be for the guards and other staff members. Currently, the guards get one (free) meal per shift and eat the same food as the inmates do, but there is a demand for more variety in their meals, so the DoC is seeking "an expression of interest" from companies "that would like to operate a fast-food joint in the joint."
Are violence and nutrition connected?
According to a story in the New
York Times magazine, there might be a connection between a healthy diet and a propensity for violence. Studies have
been done in countries including Finland and England, and are underway in Holland and Norway, that showed a
decrease in the levels of violent behaviors exhibited by convicts who were given omega-3 fatty acids and other
nutritional supplements. The decrease was compared to prisoners who received placebo supplements, or none at all.
Apparently, in addition to other health benefits, "Omega-3's foster the growth of neurons in the brain's frontal
cortex, the bit of gray matter that controls impulsive behavior." In other words, for people who impulsively
committed violent acts, having an increased amount of omega-3-generated neurons blocked those impulses and eliminated
many violent behaviors.
The article does, of course, remind readers that there is no miraculous way to eliminate violent behavior - no matter how much fresh fish and spinach people are given. Just like diet alone is not a substitute for exercise on the quest to lose weight, diet alone cannot stop all violent behaviors. But it could help.
[Image NYT]
No porridge for prisoners
A hot breakfast was the standard prison breakfast for many, many years for the same reasons that oatmeal
is a popular breakfast food on the outside: it's healthy, filling and inexpensive. But porridge is off the menus in British prisons, replaced with a
"breakfast pack" that costs only 27p per prisoner (about 46¢ US). The reason for the change, according
to audit investigators, was "because cooked breakfasts are no longer part of contemporary eating habits in the
wider community". Since the prison officials are so on top of food trends, they found it necessary to remove the
offending breakfast cereal from their menus.
It is highly that the change was made to save money. While the breakfast pack - which includes 1 cup of breakfast cereal, two slices of bread, jam or marmalade, margarine, tea bags, instant coffee and a small milk cartoon - might cost slightly more per serving than oatmeal, it is given to the prisoners the night before and prepared and eaten by them in the morning. This eliminates the need to have the kitchen staff on hand for one meal every day.
Potato mascot nabbed at border
Why this story hasn't gotten more coverage is beyond me. Global produce news site FreshPlaza recently reported on the incarceration of
Spuddy Buddy, the official mascot of Idaho potatoes, during a trade mission to Mexico. "His paperwork was not
complete," the article says. Discussions between Mexican officials and the Idaho governor and trade officials
ensued and Spuddy was eventually released from prison and granted a 48-hour pass of some sort. The newly-liberated
tuber then joined up with his cohorts, including Idaho Governor Dirk Kempthorne, for cooking demonstrations and a visit to one of Mexico's most popular
supermarkets. Strangely enough, The Spuddy Buddy Fan Club says
nothing of this incident.[Photo: Idaho Governor's Missions]
Prison Cuisine
A few months ago, I did a post about pruno,
a fermented drink often made by prison inmates. Well, here's something from the other end of the "cooking in
prison" spectrum: The Cellblock Cafe. John
"The Jailhouse Gourmet" Mandala, an inmate at Sing Sing Correctional Facilities medium security annex, hosts
this site of recipes and musings about his experiences learning to cook during more than a decade in prison. The
Cellblock Cafe is an offshoot of Friends Beyond The Wall, a
New-York-Based prison pen-pal program. Apparently Mandala and some of the other recipe contributors have limited access
to kitchen facilities, so some of the recipes aren't as dire as you might expect. While Mandala's introduction does
recount scenes of broiling hot dogs with radio antennae or heating a cup of coffee with burning toilet paper, the
recipes hosted here are a bit more refined. Things like fried rice and Jamaican stew reflect the diverse backgrounds of
the cooks, and pancake batter figures a little more heavily than I would've expected.Lush Life: Pruno
A previous post about hobo jug wine got me to thinking about recipes I’d seen for pruno, a fermented fruit beverage often made in prisons. The basic idea of combing heat, fruit and sugar to create alcohol is often used by inmates who have access to sweetened products such as fruit cocktail, ketchup, orange juice and even sauerkraut.
Eric Gillin at The Black Table decided to bring a little slice of lockdown into his own home by brewing up a batch of pruno and documenting every step. Granted, this is a little more sophisticated than straining a can of sterno through a loaf of Bunny Bread, but it still sounds pretty rank.
Gillin had this to say about the final product (pictured here): “The only drawback pruno has, aside from its unappealing tannish-orange color, the white flecks of mold floating on the top and the smell you can't wash off, is its taste. For lack of a better metaphor, pruno tastes like a bile flavored wine cooler. It tastes so bad, in fact, that it could very well be poisonous or psychedelic, which might explain the violence it induces in prisoners.”
Due to the violent tendencies that Gillin mentions, many prisons have removed fresh fruit from their meals in hopes of stemming incarcerated vintners.
Also, here's some pruno poetry from Jarvis Jay Masters, a death row inmate at San Quentin.
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