What Is Nutraloaf, Anyway?

NEWS: Plus, pruno, "prison pizza," and more cruel and unusual nourishment

By Justin Elliott

July/August 2008 Issue

The Mojo Prison Guide Menu A Glossary of Prison Slang 8 Tips for An Easier Prison Stay Why Prisons Banned This Magazine How to Get A Conjugal Visit What Is Nutraloaf, Anyway? What Do Prisoners Make for Victoria's Secret? Where Does $49,000 Go For Each Inmate? Which Works Better Behind Bars, Scuba or Buddha? TOOLS E-mail article Print article BACKTALK E-mail the editor

FEAR AND LOAFING
VERMONT PRISONERS SAY NUTRALOAF IS CRUEL AND UNUSUAL NOURISHMENT. PRISON OFFICIALS SAY IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER.

"Nutraloaf is a 'food product' composed of 'whole wheat bread, non-dairy cheese, raw carrots, spinach, seedless raisins, Great Northern beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk, and dehydrated potato flakes;' these ingredients are 'mixed and baked.'" —Vermont appellate court brief, November 2006

"Nutraloaf is neither punishment, nor is its quality inferior to that of regular inmate meals...[It] is only provided to inmates who are placed in segregated confinement for the misuse of food and bodily waste." —Prison official's legal memorandum, Vermont Superior Court, September 2005

"If defendant wants to continue to spin out his Orwellian fantasy, and claim that nutraloaf is of the same 'quality' as normal prison food, this Court need only order a judicial tasting." —Prisoners' memorandum, Vermont Superior Court, September 2005

MEAN CUISINE
Prison moonshine, or pruno, is made by sealing fruit, sugar, ketchup, and water in a garbage bag, often stored inside a toilet for several days.

Tired of mess-hall food, some prisoners prepare "prison pizza"—a crust of ramen noodles and crushed chips or crackers, topped with cheese spread and sausage.

FASHION CRIMES
Inmates in Arizona's Maricopa County Jail work on chain gangs (tasks include digging graves), wear black-and-white stripes, and are fed two 15-cent meals daily.

Prisoners in South Carolina who masturbate publicly or sexually assault each other or staff are made to wear pink uniforms for 3 months.

CROWD CONTROL
According to a Prison Legal News investigation, overcrowding has caused sewage spills in more than 30 prisons in 17 states, causing wastewater contamination, disease outbreaks, and inmates' deaths.

San Juan County Detention Center in New Mexico, Georgia's Hancock State Prison, and Maricopa County Jail house inmates in tents.

Justin Elliott is an editorial fellow at Mother Jones.

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Dude that is some pretty nasty stuff man.

JT
www.FireMe.To/udi

Posted by:JIm JonesJuly 27, 2008 2:05:26 PMRespond ^

Yes, but the sex is complimtrary, right? You would have to pay for stuff like that on the outside. And they call that punishment? Sounds like a cheap Club Med vacation to me, with a nice European peice of Rough Trade. Yummie!

Posted by:Franklin GrimesAugust 2, 2008 7:20:38 PMRespond ^

I think prisons should be maintained safely and humanely, but as it is a form of government spending, hang onto every copper penny in fierce and possessive fashion until any/all expenditures are fully vetted for both necessity and merit. There's union stuff in there in 'corrections', and fat paychecks, too. Ask many questions...especially about money.

Posted by:BertAugust 4, 2008 9:28:43 AMRespond ^

A lot of prison overpopulation could be easily solved if we didn't treat non-violent cannabis and psilocybin users just like thugs, especially when the medical community readily admits those substances have low incidences of addiction and low overall damage to the body.

Posted by:FigAugust 4, 2008 12:16:10 PMRespond ^

down heyah in the South the Sherriff's are given a food allowance for each inmate--if the Sherriff spends less than the allowance, he gets to keep the rest. It's considered his "bonus". In the local jails, the best food (that I am aware of) consists of a crappy TV-dinner-like thing. Think the worst of frozen meals from the sixties.

Posted by:cmi517August 4, 2008 3:35:07 PMRespond ^

Nutraloaf sounds like a very nutritious meal. I'll bet there are millions of people in the world ... and even here in the US ... who would stand in line for days for that kind of food. Many of us who came from poor families in the Depression have subsisted on a lot worse. My Dad always said that "you eat to live, you don't live to eat."

Posted by:Miki DavisAugust 4, 2008 3:57:07 PMRespond ^

Aside from the powdered milk, it sounds like something I might make for dinner. Vegan "meatloaf"? OK, I would use fresh potatoes rather than flakes.

Posted by:bohemiangirlpdxAugust 4, 2008 4:47:09 PMRespond ^

It may not sound appetizing, but it sounds very nutritious. It is basically a veggie meatloaf. Get over it.

More important is stop privatizing the prisons, stop the jailing of non-violent offenders, focus on getting rid of the drug laws that create a even more thuggish than usual set of capitalists, create crimes and criminals and completely corrupt the already severely corrupted law enforcement agencies in the big cities and small towns.

Posted by:Leland SomersAugust 4, 2008 6:29:44 PMRespond ^

Summit County Jail serves ONLY nutraloaf. Not punishment, not when you're in the hole, but ALWAYS. No real meat is allowed. Go figure. [deleted] authority!

Posted by:OxnardAugust 4, 2008 6:49:15 PMRespond ^

That's why they call it "punishment". If you can't do the time, don't do the crime.

Posted by:GendotteAugust 4, 2008 8:40:26 PMRespond ^

Mean spirited, are the comments I'm reading here. Try this....
Instead of comparing our prisons to the worst life offers us. Try comparing it to the best life offers us. Oh and don't tell me life is a reward, or tell me don't do the crime if you can't do the time, because some half baked law maker decided to write a half baked law which goes counter to our country's constitution. Just remember this, (in the land of the free) we have more people in prison than any other country on the planet.

Posted by:Mike IsgoodAugust 5, 2008 5:39:01 AMRespond ^

Unfortunately for all of us, those running the USA will soon bring about the demise of the USA as we know it. Perhaps this is not so unfortunate after all. We are all fast becoming prisoners. Maybe it is time for the country to meet its end. I only hope that for those left behind that those taking over will be a bit kinder.
Oh yes, THIS IS NOT the land of the free, unless your are talking about the National Branches of Government: Executive, Legislative, and Supreem Court. I have never been free although I have never been incarcerated.

Posted by:MISTYAugust 5, 2008 9:28:40 PMRespond ^

The law is the law, and even if you don't agree with it, it is still the law. If you break the law, you go to prison. Period. I don't like all the laws, but I don't want to suffer the consequences, so I don't break the law. If you don't like what happens in prison, make sure you don't go. The 'no cruel and unusual punishment' is fine for certain non-violent crimes, but for rapists and murderers, they should all be punished by the means with which they attacked their victims - and no special secluded confinement for the 'safety of the prisoner.' You're a rapist? Too bad, the General Population would love to have you!

Posted by:smags72August 7, 2008 6:09:32 PMRespond ^

You know what goes around comes around. I have been confined and had my freedoms taken away, for various reasons... it sucks. Sometimes food is the only morale-raiser you have. If you watch 'Survivor' you can see how happy a cheeseburger makes someone who has eaten slugs for two weeks. Feeding people not just humanely but with good taste doen't cost too much.

Posted by:EgbertAugust 7, 2008 8:50:18 PMRespond ^

Hey, all you law and order types! What if you don't do the crime? What if some backwood deputy pulls you over for speeding and plants coke in your car so he can confiscate it and lock you away? What if you got a little ditchweed growing on your property you don't even know about, and they take your land and house and lock you away? What if you're black and driving through the wrong neighborhood when some cheating wife tells her hubby she was raped by a black man when he finds something he shouldn't? And even if you did do the crime, there are usually reasons you did it (pot for glaucoma, morphine for pain, living on a credit card when you're out of a job and then not being able to pay it back). Locking people up is an industry in this country. The real reason you're in jail is that you couldn't afford a high priced lawyer.

Posted by:smitisanAugust 19, 2008 9:15:33 AMRespond ^


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