Even if an inmate's sentence is not oppressively long, their treatment while incarcerated can still constitute subhuman treatment. Prisons are not medical facilities, but they regularly are forced to deal with mental health problems and care for elderly and terminally ill inmates. Food, if it's even edible, usually lacks enough nutrition for inmates' health to not deteriorate. Plus, with a lack of opportunities to see family, read, or gain skill sets, inmates are placed in buildings which lack any resemblance of the civilized world.
“After inmates in the Douglas prison complained their drinking water was brown and tasted like diesel fuel, the Arizona Department of Corrections has confirmed water at the prison had a “noticeable petroleum odor and taste.” Spokesman Andrew Wilder said the complex was forced to change water sources.“
KJZZ 91.5 Arizona
October 21, 2019
Read More“Later that day, I found the dorm wino and let him know that it was over. When he asked why, I told him what had happened. He laughed at me for a minute and said, ‘Now you see why I don’t make it’.“
The Marshall Project
June 20, 2019
Read More“As temperatures approach 100 degrees, the water system is not working at an Arizona state prison housing more than 2,000 people. The Douglas prison is located next to the Bisbee-Douglas International Airport, which is owned by Cochise County. A well on that property, which is about 10 miles north of the border with Mexico, supplies water to the prison. Cochise County Public Information Officer Amanda Baillie said on late Friday afternoon that the Arizona Department of Corrections notified the county that the water supply had stopped.“
KJZZ Arizona
June 10, 2019
Read More“I put in a grievance about this, issue and it was ‘lost in the mail,’ even though of course it wasn’t even leaving the building. I tried again, and the grievance officer told me to ‘be careful what you wish for.’ Alas, all because of a single tiny little grain. But the smallest things loom large in prison.“
The Marshall Project
May 28, 2019
Read More“There is no relationship between these two things. The dinners for prisoners were planned months in advance and the spending happened before the shutdown. While the holiday meals sound nice, the food prisoners receive every other day of the year is generally awful and frequently doesn't contain enough nutrients to meet inmates' dietary needs. But in order to make themselves look like the victims in this government shutdown, union officials shopped around a story to multiple media outlets about criminals being treated like kings while prison guards have to freelance as Uber drivers.“
Reason
January 7, 2019
Read More“In a lunchroom at the Bristol County House of Correction, inmate Gordon Davis scoffs at the menu on the wall. For the day’s lunch, it reads, “Chef’s Special (Chicken).” The “special” is three steamed chicken hot dogs, without buns, served over rice. It comes with two slices of untoasted wheat bread, unfrosted brownish-yellow cake, a scoop of flavorless mixed vegetables and a packet of mustard.“
South Coast Today
December 21, 2018
Read More“About three years after the effort began, the prison has replaced the white bread with wheat and gives out less. It has added items such as fish, fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as cottage cheese and yogurt full of the calcium the aging female population needs. It serves drinks with less sugar.“
Corrections One
November 5, 2018
Read More“The move was an attempt to put an end to some sheriffs' longstanding practice of pocketing ‘excess’ state money they receive to feed state inmates in their county jails but do not use for that purpose. The practice has been a major point of controversy in Alabama since AL.com reported in March that Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin had pocketed more than $750,000 worth of inmate-feeding funds over the previous three years and proceeded to purchase a $740,000 beach house in September 2017.“
Birmingham News
September 23, 2018
Read More"What happens when an institutional kitchen transitions from being run by municipal employees to operating as part of a for-profit company? At the Michigan Department of Corrections’ (MDOC) prison kitchens, a five-year experiment in privatization led to a whole host of problems, including a dramatic decline in food quality and safety, destabilized prisons and a drop in fair-wage jobs. It also may have caused a riot, put people’s lives in danger, created an odd alliance between inmates and guards against the MDOC administration, and failed to save the state money."
Civil Eats
August 20, 2018
Read More"The role of food is more pronounced for prisoners than for those who are not incarcerated. A primary reason for that difference is the fact that prison and jail schedules revolve around meal times. Another is that prisoners are limited to eating the fare provided in the dining hall (commonly called the chow hall or mess hall), or what they can buy from the commissary; they lack the food choices that most people take for granted."
Prison Legal News
August 4, 2018
Read More"Following criticism that some Alabama sheriffs profited large sums of money by skimping on jailhouse meals, Gov. Kay Ivey said Tuesday that the state will no longer give jail food funds to 'sheriffs personally'."
Birmingham News
July 11, 2018
Read More