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Note: After reading over the comments of the readers, I felt it was important to reiterate that the Nutraloaf is a disciplinary tool, reserved only for inmates who have committed a punishable act while in prison. Of the 9,000 inmates in Cook County jail, only 21 were served the Nutraloaf.If you haven't heard of Nutraloaf before, maybe you know it by it's other names; disciplinary loaf, confinement loaf,
"a thick orange lump of spite." This dense brick is made up of various ingredients such as potato flakes, wheat bread, non-dairy cheese, vegetables, and even leftover prison meals. I wonder if it tastes anything like a
Larabar?
The Nutraloaf is fed to prisoners who have misbehaved by doing something like trying to shiv a prison guard or fellow inmate. These inmates are identified as having behavioral issues and the Nutraloaf can be served without any potentially dangerous utensils.
Currently the courts are debating whether or not the Nutraloaf tastes so horrific that it should be classified as
cruel and unusual punishment.
Prisoners are allowed only three luxuries; food, television, and books. Books and television are often withheld as punishment, but under the constitution, food cannot be taken away. Enter the Nutraloaf.
Not only must prisoners be fed, but they also must be given foods that are nutritionally complete and will not make them ill. The Nutraloaf has survived this requirement because it is technically nutritionally complete and supplies over 900 calories. However, inmate Terrance Prude claims that after eating the Nutraloaf he could not stop vomiting and his weight fell 8.3%. If he can prove that the Nutraloaf made him ill, it may be found that serving inmates the loaf violates the 8th amendment.
What do you think about the Nutraloaf?
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Comments (42)
Seems like ol' Terrance Prude shouldn't have tried to shiv somebody if he didn't want to eat Nutraloaf.
I don't think I've ever heard food classified as a "luxury." I'm fairly certain that's one of those "necessities." Most likely why it cannot be legally taken away, methinks.
How about they don't go to prison in the first place?
... prison food shouldn't be torture, starvation is.
but i see what you mean.... :/Just because it made him sick, doesn't mean it'll make everyone sick. I can't eat cheese, doesn't mean it should be banned.
People have this idea that everyone who has gone to jail is a horrible person who deserves what they get. That's not always true. Making a mistake doesn't make someone autimatically subhuman. I'm not saying prisoners deserve 5-star meals, but you can give someone a sandwich or two without any dangerous items. This is just an extra level of punishment beyond isolation. Seems like a humiliation tactic, honestly.
Prisoners shouldn't even be treated like civilians to begin with. They lost their privileges when they stepped into the cell.
Shouldn't health be the primary consideration? It's a given that all institutions feed on the cheap. What if a child's school lunch consisted of such food as a punishment? Then there are hospitals, nursing homes, even the military. Diet affects behavior. There are plenty of ways to punish criminal inmates without serving sickening food.
Seeing as they're in prison for murdering and other awful things, who cares? Lost their rights when they screwed up!!! So if nutraloaf is nutritional, all they need.
Isn't prison supposed to be partly for rehabilitation also?
Well...it doesn't sound appetizing. Call me crazy but it doesn't sound THAT BAD.
Kind of looks like a dried slab of scrapple. It does sound nasty.
@emaciationxisxthexgoal@xanga - it's got vegetables, wheat bread, potatoes, cheese and leftover... maybe meat? i don't know it's not specific when it says left over meals. if i were starving enough to steal then hell yes i would eat this. your screen name seems to hint at diet issues to begin with. and five counts of armed robbery aren't "a mistake"
as to the OP, i'll point out what i hinted at in my response to thinspo, it's a damn shame that crybaby bitches can tie up the court system whining about having to eat something that millions, if not billions of starving people around the world would probably be willing to kill to get their hands on.
@iones_island@xanga - My screen name has nothing to do with the topic at hand, so I'd appreciate you leaving it out of the discussion. I picked it when I was 16, anyways, and it's too much trouble to change it six years later.
I think you missed the point of my comment. What I was saying was that if you did something bad to support your family or save your life and went to jail for that, do you deserve to be given this mess to eat? For instance, I've met a girl who was accused of attempted murder and kidnapping. Sounds horrible, right? Well, her child's father won custody of their daughter and he was molesting her, so she took a gun and grabbed her child then fired a warning shot and took off. Guess she deserves what she gets for trying to protect her child, right? Because according to your logic, she does.
Why can't they just give you a sandwich or something? And let me tell you something about jail food, there's no "wheat bread" or "cheese" to be seen for MILES. No dairy, for that matter, or fruit and a very sad amount of veg. You're fed a meal made of 75% carbs 3 times a day. Lunch is two tiny white rolls with some mystery meat, a pack of mustard, a bag of Lay's potato chips, and two "cookies".
Not everyone in jail is there for five counts of armed robbery. Some people just get the short end of the judicial stick. Had that thought ever occurred to you? Or are you just to hung up on your stereotypical image of "prisoner" to consider someone else's point of view?
@emaciationxisxthexgoal@xanga - no, i just googled the prisoner in question, the one suing over this particular piece of food. the one relevant to this discussion. did you ever think that i may have actually taken more than 5 seconds to formulate a thought on it or are you just too hung up on bemoaning the woes of prisoners to consider that maybe there is a reason prison isn't and shouldn't be a resort. in fact, frivolous lawsuits such as suing over receiving crunchy peanut butter instead of creamy is why there are now tougher restrictions on lawsuits prisoners can file.
i studied criminal justice in college, not super extensively but enough to see the stupidity that comes from inmates, this as well as having heard stories from family that worked in the prisons and having known people who have been. it's unfortunate that some people are wrongly convicted and some receive unreasonable sentences, but that doesn't mean we turn prisons into day spas, they are there for punishment, the cases of wrongful conviction and bad sentencing should be addressed individually and fixed.
It's sad that you think wrongful sentencing is simply "unfortunate". How do you propose that these issues be addressed? The person imprisoned is going to hire a lawyer and file an appeal? With what money? Maybe a couple of fortunates wil get a public defender, but 99% are going to get one who doesn't care, just looks at them as another case number.
As far as I'm concerned, they're damned lucky to be getting food. Prisons the world over starve inmates or feed them something far less nutritional than a Nutraloaf.
There are people starving in the world who would be thankful to get a Nutraloaf. If you don't want to have to eat one, don't go to prison and don't try killing a guard!
you folks need to understand how government contracting works,
the prisoners aren't growing their own slop, the food is usually provided by a company that makes a lot of money -the siscos & haliburtons - my college was a Federal Service Academy in Long Island known as the USMMA
our food supplier was the same as that for the Rikers Prision System of NYC/NY State, i believe the contracted company was called "Nana Food Services" at the time (these companies change names frequently) and yes it was terrible terrible food, albeit free our school was prone to stomach viruses and infections that never made it into the news
the Princeton Review consistently ranked my college #1 in the America for worst food, ironically my second year there Rikers Island stopped using this food supplier because it was deemed "inhumane" but the school maintained the same supplier for Federal Service Academy students (the same ones that are evidently the best the country has to offer and are commissioned into the armed services upon graduation)
?so thanks to the know little protesters?
@iones_island@xanga - Don't even get me started on the stupidity of Prisoners being able to file lawsuits. My father was a prison doctor for 6 years. In that time period he got sued a lot. Never did he actually do anything wrong! Prisoners are able and willing to make a stink about anything. They're bored!
Their rights are taken away for a reason. And if it is such a minor crime than usually they just get house arrest or only have to deal with prison for a few months. Also another point that some posters are missing is that this is an "extra" punishment. We aren't arguing the fact of their imprisonment, we are looking into how they are punished for misbehaving. The people be served this are trying to KILL another person!! If this was how we dealt with these kinds of circumstances in society? I can imagine the chaos that would ensue since no one would think twice about killing someone when their punishment is having to eat something distasteful. (But still nutritionally sound). How very fleeting of a punishment.
@emaciationxisxthexgoal@xanga - it's also not about wrongly convicted prisoners, as the article states and @Winter__Raven@xanga - pointed out this is for the people who continue to be VIOLENT in prison. my sympathy is not with them at all.
And, really? Using FOOD, a basic human RIGHT, as PUNISHMENT? How can you really condone that? Yes, let's put the idea in their mind that food=punishment and send them home with that planted in their head. Seems like a good start to an eating disorder in some people, imo. We have a basic human responsibility not to do things that might physically or mentally injure someone and, I'm sorry, but having to force down some hardly edible mystery loaf or go hungry would mentally injure me.
Besides, it's just one small step from "feed it to the bad ones" to "feed it to all of them" if you're going to operate in the mindset that they all deserve what they get. Insects are of good nutritional value. Tons of protein. Doesn't mean I'm going to turn around and say "Let them eat worms!"
@emaciationxisxthexgoal@xanga - there's always going to be some excuse not to punish the guilty huh.
It probably tastes bad because it is nutritional. I'm pretty sure no one has the right to good tasting food, just food that is good for them. Besides, it is clearly a safety issue if it is given to them because they can't be trusted with utensils. If a prisoner starts vomiting, find an alternative I guess.