Jail and prison food is notoriously terrible. But Michigan seems to be upping the ante!
There are countless reasons to avoid jail. Aside from the costs involved when you lose your job because you will be unable to show up for months on end, there is the issue of your family. A parent who is sent to jail has to worry about what will happen to their children while they’re behind bars. And if they left a spouse or partner behind, will that person cope without them? Or even be there for them when they get out?
Those, however, aren’t the only reasons you should avoid going to jail in Michigan (as if you needed any more reasons!) There are a host of other issues for anyone behind bars to worry about – issues that they’ll have to deal with every day while locked up. Ask anyone who’s ever been behind bars and they’ll tell you – one of the biggest problems, both in jail and in prison, is the food. And Michigan it seems, has some very serious, ongoing issues when it comes to the cuisine of the incarcerated.
An article published in June of 2015 provides a window into the reality that prisoners and inmates face every day behind bars. Entitled “What it’s actually like to eat the food in Oakland County Jail – Mystery meat, bologna soup and maggots“, it’s thought provoking and interesting. But it’s also horrifying. Written by an inmate who published it (wisely) under a pen name to avoid any backlash, it tells the story of perpetual hunger, weight loss that would make bariatric surgery patients envious, and disgust. Heavy on the disgust. Seriously.
The article details the writer’s experiences behind bars in the Oakland County Jail, where he says they actually have it better than many other jails in the state. “A convincing argument can be made that jail food should be pretty gross,” he states, “but what it shouldn’t be is rotten, maggot-infested, pulled out of the garbage, or gnawed on by rats.” We couldn’t agree more.
Since privatizing Michigan’s jail and prison food service providers, the number of complaints has skyrocketed!
At the time that the article was written, Michigan’s meals-behind-bars were getting a lot of attention in the wake of several sex and drug-related controversies involving Aramark employees. Aramark was the company hired to provide meals to people living in Michigan’s many prisons and jails, yet the services so often included more than just a meal. Numerous employees were accused of smuggling drugs to inmates, and there was more than one criminal conviction stemming from unlawful sexual contact between prisoners and Aramark employees.
In the end, the Michigan Department of Corrections cancelled the three-year, $145 million contract with Aramark – two years early. In their stead, Florida based Trinity Services Group stepped in to feed Michigan’s incarcerated masses. Unsurprisingly, the company may have changed, but the problems remained the same.
There were riots earlier this year in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula Kinross Correctional Facility over food. What were the complaints? In general, prisoners are upset about the small portions and poor quality. But specific issues were far more horrifying. Less than two weeks before the riot there were documents of prisoners unloading bags of rotten potatoes from the delivery trucks – bags that were said to be leaking fluids and stinking unbearably. Later, kitchen staff were told to sort through the rotten potatoes and try to find usable spuds for that evening’s meal.
Prison food is notoriously terrible. In fact, it’s a fact that’s become an accepted fact in movies and TV shows featuring incarcerated characters. And there are many who believe that convicted criminals deserve nothing better than a boring diet with controlled portions. However there’s a distinct difference between limited food choices, and rotten food. Between boring meals, and meals infested with maggots.
The best way to avoid having to deal with the horrors of jail food is to avoid jail – which is only a possibility if you have a great defense attorney. So call The Kronzek Firm today at 866 766 5245. Our skilled criminal defense attorneys can fight aggressively to protect your freedom.