The prison food and burkini ban dual thread

[Martinus]

For the record, I voted the second option.

The potential problem with accomodation I have, though, is actually the one that Valmy accidentally aluded to - the risk of this actually reducing the choice for the majority. Because what stops the prison authorities from saying "fuck it, it's vegetarian only from now on" - and then everybody suffers because some crazy person would not eat bacon?

[Razgovory]

Keeping inmates "happy" is actually a major concern.  A happy inmate is less likely to stab a guard.  Also if you don't provide food that falls within the dietary restrictions of certain inmates you are going to face hunger strikes.

[alfred russel]

$2.50 a day for food is likely not meeting anyone's dietary restrictions. 

[Berkut]

$2.50 a day for food is likely not meeting anyone's dietary restrictions. 

Sheriff Joe supposedly does it for less than a buck a day!

[CountDeMoney]

"Muslims" make up less than 10% of the US prison population, and Jews around 1.5%.  And somehow, I just don't see the Aryan Brotherhood and its offshoots asking for kosher or halal meals.

So let's keep shit that starts riots to a minimum.

[Ed Anger]

Hospital food isn't that bad. At least Kettering medical center wasn't when I was there. The only problem was the menu got boring after a week.

The rehab place? Iffy. Somne good but some horrid Sysco crap.

[Barrister]

How do you handle the problem with people claiming dietary needs simply because they perceive that the special diets have better food?

What if they want to switch back and forth?

How do you tell someone you don't actually believe they are Jewish, for example?

Or do you just define a set of special diets, and let anyone partake of them as they wish, no matter the cost?

Hence my 'within reason' qualifier. There is always that person claiming the flying spaghetti monster forbids him from eating apricots on Thursdays.

But providing a vegetarian alternative is perfectly reasonable.

The problem is that prisoners, by and large, have no incentive to "be reasonable", so you need a system to handle the fact that they are going to try to exploit your "reasonable" accommodations, and then sue you when you reasonably tell them that you don't care what the flying spaghetti monster thinks about baked beans.

Is that an overwhelming problem in the prison system today?

Inmates often go out of their way to make the life of the prison system as difficult as possible - either from filing spurious lawsuits, to acting up within the facility.

[CountDeMoney]

Maybe if you stopped railroading them in with shitty plea bargains, you wouldn't have to worry about an overly unhappy prison population, Crown Inquisitor.

[Martinus]

There are a few problems with the "veggie option" from the cost perspective though. What if there is only one inmate who wants it - how do you then keep it down to $2.50 per inmate per day without making it below required nuitrition level?

[CountDeMoney]

They should have thought of that before they committed such heinous crimes.

[LaCroix]

how many inmates do that, barrister?

this thread has had some generalizations of the inmate population

[Razgovory]

There are a few problems with the "veggie option" from the cost perspective though. What if there is only one inmate who wants it - how do you then keep it down to $2.50 per inmate per day without making it below required nuitrition level?

They were already going to serve bread, fruit and vegetables.  Substituting more beans for pork isn't a big problem.

[Berkut]

how many inmates do that, barrister?

this thread has had some generalizations of the inmate population

Shrug.

I have several friends and family members who are guards in prisons.

Anecdtoally, finding a prisoner interested in working the system is about as hard as finding one that is breathing at any particular moment.

Hell, who can blame them? If *I* was in prison you can bet I would be working the system as best I can, and I would have zero concern about whether that was "reasonable" or not.

The Muslims get better food? Sign me up!

[viper37]

Should prisons accomodate inmates who expect halal, kosher or vegetarian food?

not specifically.  They could offer 2 or 3 choices on the menu, including one without pork and one without meat though.  But we shouldn't specifically pay for kosher or halal food.

[Razgovory]

how many inmates do that, barrister?

this thread has had some generalizations of the inmate population

Shrug.

I have several friends and family members who are guards in prisons.

Anecdtoally, finding a prisoner interested in working the system is about as hard as finding one that is breathing at any particular moment.

Hell, who can blame them? If *I* was in prison you can bet I would be working the system as best I can, and I would have zero concern about whether that was "reasonable" or not.

The Muslims get better food? Sign me up!

Ah, so this it.  You are concerned Muslims are getting better food.  That is a big problem isn't it?