Inmates eating better than hospital patients.

Now here is a damn crime if I've seen one:

It's criminal that provincial inmates in Ontario are alloted more money a day for their jailhouse cuisine than sick patients receive in hospitals, health experts say.

Prisoners at the Metro Toronto West Detention Centre are each granted $11.02 a day for food.

Hospital patients don't receive as much -- at St. Michael's the budget for a patient's food is $8.07 a day, for hospitals in the University Health Network it is $6.50 a day, and at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre it is $7.

Toronto Sun

I've worked in that jail and I'll tell you the food is pretty damn good. The source makes it out that the inmates get roast beef diners on a daily basis, not true but the food they serve is, well, I've paid for worse food. I know that the gov't has to serve inmates nutritional meals but damn, people suffering in the hospital deserve better.

Why can we not just get things right anymore? I would like to believe that the people in the hospital would come first but that's not the case here, huh! It's going to take alot more pressure on those in power to do the right thing.

Having worked in both hospitals and prisons, I can understand your frustration with both systems. Hospitals inevitably have people who are on special diets (low salt=bland, clear liquid=jello and weak tea, etc.). These types of diets are inexpensive and do not require a higher budget. Many people in hospitals are also "NPO" which means "nothing by mouth" which means you don't get to eat anything at all. Obviously such "diets" require less money to implement.

Prisons, however, have eaters with limited or no dietary restrictions, usually grown, strong, healthy men (or women) with a need for higher caloric intake. The prison in which I'm currently working typically serves powdered eggs, oatmeal or grits, toast (which the prison makes it's own baked goods, ie: cakes, breads, etc.) and, on weekends there's usually some mystery meat which is optimistically referred to as "bacon". Lunch almost always consists of sandwich meat, giant dinner rolls to put it on, a dollop of mayonnaise, and some lawn clippings euphemistically called "lettuce". Dinner is often "gas and grass", otherwise alluded to as beans and turnip or mustard greens. Occasionally there is chicken or fish. The inmates all have pudgy midsections and several have put on 40 pounds in the past 5-6 months due to the high starch content of most meals. The weight benches (or rather, the weights themselves) have been removed because no one wants the inmates "beefing up" and becoming physically stronger or in better shape than the officers guarding them. Walking endless little circles in your own segregated yard is about the only exercise any of them get. They can look forward to getting fatter and lazier for the next 10-20 years whereas a hospital patient will usually only stay a few days and likely be too ill to feel much like eating anyway.

On the surface, the disparity in incomes alloted to the feeding of prisoners verses hospital patients seems unjust; digging a little deeper into the issue uncovers the real reason(s).

Originally posted by intrepid
I know that the gov't has to serve inmates nutritional meals but damn, people suffering in the hospital deserve better.

I think that one point that's been missed is that hospital patients have more need for nutritional food, because that's what fuels the body's ability to heal. It seems that somebody's got their values all flip-flopped.

Originally posted by GeneralT.
Why can we not just get things right anymore?

I think one factor might be that insurance companies are greedy...They keep sucking money from the insured for years & years, but try anything to cut costs as much as they can when it comes to the payout.
For inmates, the costs are covered mostly by taxpayers...And we all know how Government just loves to throw money around (& throw it away). I think I'd prefer Las Vegas tourists & gamblers compared to Government Politicians; In Las Vegas, at least the drunks are gambling with their own money...

Well, your inmates should be thankful they aren't in the Maricopa County jail system in Arizona, run by Sheriff Joe Arpaio:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona) who created the "tent city jail":

He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights. Cut off all but "G" movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.

Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.

He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel.

When asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.

He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value.

When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."

He bought Newt Gingrich' lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails.
When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

forums.somd.com...

You gotta love the guy!

[edit on 22-7-2007 by jsobecky]

Don't forget the pink clothing, that's priceless.

I work in several small option homes for individuals with disabilities, and they receive less funding per meal than what I see quoted here. When I was hired in the agency, it was one of the first questions I asked. I was very interested in knowing what the government offers, and I wasn't too suprised to hear that murderers and rapists are more deserving of a warm meal than say, an autistic child.

Loving those priorities.

Why doesn't something like this come up in a political debate? How about when parliament gets together for a little sit down?

Deny Apathy!

...Right

Hmmm I've experience the opposite here. One of my favorite overtimes is to watch inmates that have been admitted to the downtown hospital cause the food is really good with generous servings.

However, up on the hill the food is horrid with little tiny portions that leave many inmates still hungry and nope they don't get seconds. Food is also something that prisons are loathe to mess with because that can cause major problems. You can get away with bad food as long as there is plenty of it. So it really is far more cost effective to feed inmates plenty rather then have to rebuild your facility due to a riot.

However, this is a lesson which our management will have to re-learn.

[edit on 23-7-2007 by gallopinghordes]