The Colorado DOC dinner lineup for one week, for example, includes baked chicken and parslied potatoes, green chile burritos, spaghetti with meat sauce, chopped steak and gravy, Hungarian goulash over noodles, barbecued chicken and rice, and submarine sandwiches with turkey bologna and salami. But even good ingredients can take a bad turn in the wrong hands. So facilities such as Delta put in place practices similar to those in other noncommercial foodservice operation. You don't want to make any mistakes. This is one of the few enjoyable events in a prisoner's day.
Good food means fewer problems.
And lest he sound a little too altruistic, there's a more compelling logic behind good meals. Although an in-house labor pool solves some staffing issues, it raises other concerns. An increasing number of prisons are incorporating culinary training for paid staffers. He works as assistant foodservice director at Do a Ana County Detention Center in Las Cruces, N.M., which serves just under 1,000 inmates. It'd be foolish to get out unless you hate it.