Not wishing to hijack the thread on Jews in Prison I’m starting this thread.
I understand that prisons (in the West at least) have to cater for religious dietary requirements - does the same hold true for other, let’s say purely philosophical, dietary requirements, such as vegetarianism or veganism? If I were a vegetarian prisoner, would I get special meals?
I was working in an English prison a couple of years ago(Construction not as a prison staffer)and was amazed at not just how many specialised diets there were but the sheer number of inmates from minority cults who were banged up for serious offences,mostly murder.
But when I mentioned it to one of the Screws he told me that the professed religions were of convenience.
Some diets got extra sweets to make up for not having this,others received a milk supplement for not having that and so on.
The Cons used to trade their perks amongst themselves.
The food itself was excellent but though offered we weren’t allowed to eatit incase at a future date the cons might ask us to return the favour by bringing stuff in.
So there we are eating crappy sandwiches while inmates ate like kings.
I mentioned a friend of mine who was in California prison in the other thread mentioned in the OP. He is a vegetarian. At meal time he would trade his meat with other inmates for their veggies. The going rate was like one fifth of his meat for the entirety of someone’s vegetables so he ended up with huge meals.
Nobody in prison is eating like a king. The food in prison is still institutional - think the stuff you get in a hospital or high school. It’s food that’s made with an eye on feeding a lot of people cheaply and with the recognition that they can’t take their business elsewhere. It’s okay but there are plenty of employees who order sandwichs from the deli every day.
Um, you’re aware that you’re talking about two entirely different countries, aren’t you? If you re-read Lust4Life’s post, you’ll find that he says right there that the food was great at the prison he worked at…in an entirely different country than the one you’re talking about. Are you saying you know more about that prison, which he worked at, than he does?
When did he say inmates live like kings? He said they eat like kings at the particular English (that part is pretty important) prison he worked at. Considering how much nicer the British government is to its citizens about almost everything else, is it really so hard to believe that ONE prison there has good food?
Here is an article about sniper John Lee Malvo’s insistence on eating a vegetarian diet while being held in the Fairfax County, Va. jail awaiting trial.