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Thursday, October 01, 2015

I Ate Like A Prisoner For A Week — Here's What Happened

Brent Koster has spent most of his life in Michigan State prisons. Being practically raised on prison food, he has seen the rise and fall of its quality as it’s moved from public to private food services. He’s one of the roughly 30 kitchen workers, and from behind that food line he watches juvenile delinquents, no younger than he was when he entered the system, stand in uniform cafeteria lines waiting to be served.

“I hate to admit it, but I have a number of years in, 43 years actually,” Koster, who was convicted of murder in 1973, told Medical Daily. “I went through a number of food transitions and it used to be pretty good. But when the state went through the budget cuts, it got progressively worse and worse and worse.”

The meatballs hurt his stomach, the chicken patties are indistinguishable from the fish dishes, and the inmates have come to “affectionately call the bologna cow tongue.”

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10 comments:

Anonymous said...

don't do the crime if you can't do the time.

Anonymous said...

DONT LIKE THE FOOD? stay outa jail

Anonymous said...

Cow tongue is the most flavorful cut of beef...those inmates have no idea what they're talking about!

Anonymous said...

How many are innocent while they rot in county jails waiting trial? Why should these people be forced to eat this crap? Are they not innocent until proven guilty? They shouldn't even be waiting in jail cells bit the money game/ bail bonds are to high. Shame you have to pay for your freedom while your Innocent.

Anonymous said...

In the new America you are guilty till you can buy a jury or prove your innocence.

Anonymous said...

1:58 If just 'if' someone is in jail unable to make bail and they are completely innocent (as opposed to not guilty which can mean the evidence wasn't sufficient for conviction) the amount of time they have to eat the jail's food is really no big deal in the scheme of things. If this small inconvenience bothers them, then they are shallow individuals. There are people who would give an arm to eat what the US jails are serving. There are people and children dying of disease who would gladly eat the food if it meant a cure. There are people who just today in Oregon who have been told their loved ones are coming home after being shot dead in cold blood for no reason that would eat the food just to hear it was all a mistake and their loved one is alive.
Are you getting the picture? Having to eat the jail food for a small percentage of your life isn't really a big deal and not something anyone should waste time dwelling over.

Anonymous said...

3:32 what about how you lost your job now because you were in jail, and found innocent?
I just think of where that cow tongue has been when I drive by a farm and see it up the rear end of another cow, yuck!

Anonymous said...

A nicely cooked cow tongue is much, much better than bologna.

Anonymous said...

Wicomico county detention center serves crap that no one would recognize then they put names on it like pork chops, meatloaf, etc. NOT. That stuff is mystery meat, period. The warden needs to be made to eat what they serve to the inmates for a change and I bet things would change real fast.

Unknown said...

Absolutely wcdc food is the worst