Meals meet daily nutrition guidelines and the food costs an average of sixty-eight cents per meal. Inmate labor allows us to run an efficient, cost-effective kitchen system. They prepare a bag lunch with sandwiches for inmates leaving the prison. They also move food to be used for lunch from the freezer to the refrigerator. They eat and leave to prepare for their trip.
Inmates make their way through the kitchen serving line and eat in the dining hall.
The 24 inmates in Polk's kitchen prepare more than 1,000 meals each day for the prison's 350 inmates. They work eight hour shifts that overlap. Several inmates work split shifts to meet the demands of the meal-time rush. Others make 70 cents a day. The inmates are supervised by five correction food service officers who make sure sanitary procedures and food preparation guidelines are followed.