Wtf!!!

[Isityouorme]

Catching up on Gordon Ramsey's Behind Bars and apparently the prisoners get 5 choices for the evening meal!!! No fucking way! This is taking the mickey! No wonder this country is fucked up.....

Look, I'm a barking-mad liberal, so I may be barking up completely the wrong tree here, but shouldn't convicts be encouraged to analyse, develop and extend any pre-existing moral convictions, as opposed to being encouraged to ignore moral convictions for the sake of convenience, i.e. getting food to eat.

When I read court reports in the local press, I rarely think, "that defendant needs his/her moral views starved out of him/her". On the contrary, I tend to think it would be absolutely wonderful for them andd society, if they could restrain themselves from doing (additional) things on moral grounds!

Another point: if we feed prisoners worse food than we do now, will this not have an impact on their health
We can feed them decent enough food that won't negatively effect their health. We aren't talking about making them ill. We're talking about taking away nice choices. They all should be given a simple meal that will sustain them.

Five choices doesn't seem that "WTF" to me. To give a bit of perspective, I am a vegan, and I have far more options than that to eat each night
You aren't in jail. You aren't supposed to be bring punished.

I found this interesting www.food.gov.uk/multimedia/pdfs/adultprison.pdf

LOL at how they are also given a dessert.

WE already feed them bad enough food that it impacts on their health, and you want to make it WORSE. And you want to remove any vestiges of humanity in them by forcing vegans to eat dairy and meat, and jews to eat pork?

I'm going to have to hide this because you types are actually making me sick.

Don't hide it PenisVanLesbian we need some voices of reason. TBF most of the people on here who foolishly disagree with me aren't saying feed then pig swill or feed the Muslims pork. Just a small, very worrying minority.

Vegans would not be forced to eat dairy and meat unless they were in prison. In prison, they should be denied the freedom to make choices that are available to those who have not committed a crime.

If they feel so strongly about their moral/religious beliefs, then they should not commit crimes.

We already feed them food that impacts their health? How? I've since looked into and asked what said meals are and they're a damn sight better than what I got in both the hospitals I was in.

And halal and kosher: so they want to follow one aspect of their beliefs but not the others that say no crime...

Ridiculous.

I genuinely cannot believe that people on here would feed vegetarians meat and Jewish and Muslim people pork. Just because they broke the law. I really don't understand how you live in your heads.

I have always had a fear of all those people who were locked up for things they didn't do. There are people in prison who are innocent, you know. What about the poor women locked up because their SIDS babies were murdered according to experts?

I think you're missing the point. I follow a dietary lifestyle that is generally regarded (esp. on MN!) as incredibly restrictive. To the point that some people would equate it to child abuse, if I made my children follow it. Yet I have far more choices than that. How can a mere five set choices be that excessive, now?

'just because they broke the law' sorry what? Yes breaking laws that protect law obiding people from being murdered, mugged, stolen from...

Like I said, they obviously don't care about their religion that much if they're willing to break the rules. People picking and choosing which bits they want to apply to them. Oh I can go and stab someone thats fine, but god help me don't feed me pork!

A mere five set choices, if five choices is 'mere' why are only two being offered in most schools?

And also, the fact that there will be innocent people in jail is neither here nor there. Doesn't mean we should treat them all amazingly just because one of them might be innocent.

I'm not saying starve them, I'm not saying force feed them. There should be a veggie option and a normal option. That's it. And pork doesn't really need to be in there at all really does it.

day 1
Midday - Vegetarian Pasta Bake
Chicken & Mushroom Pie
Halal Jamaican Beef Patti
Corned Beef & Pickle Roll
Jacket Potato & Coleslaw

Evening - Vegetable Supreme
Chicken Supreme
Halal Chicken Curry
Grilled Gammon
Pork Pie Salad

No, we should treat them humanely not amazingly in part but not solely because an innocent person might be in there.

Also, have you all not also broken the law? Ever? I know I have. Some because I thought the law was stupid, some because I was young and liked a spliff stupid, some because I like to jaywalk in the USA or chew gum in Singapore.

All sounds repulsive to me.

Im with WhiteWidow on this-They are in prison to be punished, im not saying feed them unhealthy food at all, im saying they shouldn't get a choice other than a healthy meal.
If they cared so much for their religious beliefs or spiritual believes they would not take part in murder/rape/stealing in then first place

I hardly think graffiting at the age of 10 compares to some of the things these people are inside for.

Repulsive to you maybe, not to some people on here who are struggling to make ends meet

I can't believe I, as the dyed in the wool Atheist, am campaigning for people to have their religious beliefs respected in prison. I believe it is cruel and unusual punishment to feed them food that they find haram or treif and dirty and wrong.

Not all prisoners are animals! They are people. Some people are in there for crimes they did not commit, some people are in there for acts which some people think should not be a crime! (this is why prisoners should get the vote but this is beside the point) .givibg people no rights even when they have commited very minor crimes helps no one.

But MrsTerry, if they can cold bloodly kill another human or rape a person then surely they let go of what they believe in a long time ago?
For the record, i have never stole, been arrested or been in prison as i believe it to be wrong

Please, WhiteWidow stop with the cheap shots. not to some people on here who are struggling to make ends meet I eat cheaper and nicer food than that every day FFS.

I think the food issue in prison is a massive red herring when compared with the general poor running of a criminal justice system. for eg it costs about £45,000 per person per year to lock someone up ( and the food cost of that is utterly miniscule) and approx £3,000 per year to have someone on a community penalty. AND bear in mind the recidivism rates for comparable offenders are much better under community penalties. Some people do need to be in prison for public protection, but not the majority.

Hospital comparison? Again, this should not be a 'race to the bottom' ie we should not be finding a lowest level and sticking to it for all people who are reliant on state-provided food.

Mss Terry Pratchett I agree with you.

How we treat our prisoners is a mark of our civilisation. Prison food is, for the most part, disgusting and unhealthy. Individual health needs are not catered for (eg if extra nutrition is needed, or low sugar etc); "veg" is frozen peas or sweetcorn every other day; fruit sounds nice but the reality is that it is inedibly hard and under ripe and you have to keep it in your cell for few days to ripen it and that is often not possible. OF COURSE we should feed everyone in our care (hospital, forces or prison) decently. There but for the grace of god go you or I (yes, there are innocent people in prison, as well as many on remand who have been convicted of nothing).

I visit a lifer who has lost teeth because the dentist comes every third Monday and there is a waiting list. Restricted access to edible food and health care is not humane and should not be part of any punishment. She could not eat any of the food presented, so survived (having lost a lot of weight - 3 stone in as many months) by sucking chocolate bars bought with her earnings which made the dental problems even worse. All this before she was even convicted of anything...appearing emaciated, haggard and toothless in court cannot have helped her case with the jury. I am confident that she will ultimately be released on appeal but that could be another year or two away.

Whitewidow I am utterly with you that hospital food also needs to be radically overhauled and improved. But that is no reason to inflict the same on those whose liberty we are taking away for extraordinarily long periods compared with any hospital stay.

X-post Housespouse!

I see a fair few people coming out of prison. No-one but no-one praises the food available fwiw.

Of course it's more choices than your husband gets unless you want to be treated like a restaurant. There is no need for prison food to be gruel and if people took the vie that prison is for rehabilitation then perhaps the reoffending rate would be much less.

Don't forget that for centuries we sent all the offenders abroad to penal colonies and we still seem to be able to breed new ones every day here so clearly stringent punishment and sentencing do not work and perhaps if we tried rehabilitation then we might get far better results.