Florida prisoner's lawsuit calls soy meals 'cruel and unusual' punishment 
 
 State says food costs would double without soy 
 
 Harris, 34, serving a life sentence at the Clermont state prison for sexual battery on a child, wants a judge to stop Florida from feeding inmates soy-laden entrees labeled "Southern BBQ," "meat loaf" and "meaty macaroni," which contain a heaping helping of a low-cost vegetable protein intended to imitate the taste of beef. 
 
 He claims in a lawsuit that the processed and blended soy foods have caused painful gastrointestinal cramping, threaten the health of his thyroid and immune system and constitute cruel and unusual punishment. 
 
 "These men are guinea pigs who are being fed high levels of soy," said Kimberly Hartke, a spokeswoman for the Weston A. Price Foundation in Washington, which describes itself as a leading voice on the dangers of soy foods. 
 
 The foundation, which paid the filing fee for Harris' lawsuit in Circuit Court in Tallahassee, also is providing legal support for a federal case in Illinois, where inmates made similar anti-soy claims, alleging they "go to the chow hall and [must] choose between eating and getting sick, and starving." Inmates in the Illinois case are seeking millions of dollars in compensation, while Harris also wants unspecified monetary damages, according to court documents. 
 
 Florida prisons began dishing soy meals in November 2009 to control rising food costs, said Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Department of Corrections, which has not yet filed a response to Harris' complaint. 
 
 The basic prison menu includes stroganoff, turkey dogs, sloppy joes and chili mac, all spiked with soy. 
 
 Using a "meat" mix that is 50 percent soy, 50 percent poultry, the prison system whips up three meals a day for $1.70 an inmate, Plessinger said. The prison system budgeted $47.2 million for food service in fiscal year 2010-11. 
 
 "If soy products were eliminated, we conservatively estimate the cost to taxpayers would double for inmate food," she said. 
 
 Like Harris, many inmates aren't fans of the meat substitute. 
 
 "They would much rather have beef or pork, of course," Plessinger said of inmates. "We are required to provide a nutritional meal, which we do, but we also have to be mindful of taxpayers who are footing the bill." 
 
 She said prisoners also may opt for a no-soy, alternate entrée — usually dried beans or peanut butter. But despite the complaints most inmates are eating the soy meals. In the prison system's Southern region, which includes Central Florida, soy meals are taken by 86 percent of the prisoners for breakfast, 88 percent for lunch and 89 percent for dinner. 
 
 In his lawsuit, Harris contends that Florida's 101,000 prison inmates are forced to eat the alternative vegan diet; sustain themselves on commissary food, which they must buy with their own money; or ingest up to 100 grams of soy protein a day, four times the amount recommended by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 
 
 Harris, who claims a history of lymphoma, argues that the prison's money-saving, soy-heavy menu poses a danger to inmates, especially those with soy allergies and pre-existing gastrointestinal and thyroid conditions. 
 
 Plessinger said the prison system does not serve soy cheese to inmates but offers processed cheese, which, like most processed cheeses, includes soybean oil as an ingredient. ||||| MIAMI — One too many bouts of flatulence and cramping has led a Florida inmate to sue the Department of Corrections, arguing that the prison’s soy-based turkey dogs and sloppy Joes amount to cruel and unusual punishment. 
 
 Eric D. Harris, 34, who is serving a life sentence for sexual battery on a child, said the soy in his prison chow is threatening his health by endangering his thyroid and immune system. Florida prisons serve meals with 50 percent soy and 50 percent poultry three times a day, a mixture that costs half as much as using beef and pork, the Department of Corrections says. The cost per meal: $1.70 a day for each inmate. Florida prisons first began serving soy-based meals in 2009. 
 
 As an inmate at the Lake Correctional Institution, near Orlando, Mr. Harris, a former paralegal, has few culinary choices. He can eat 100 grams of soy protein a day, use his own money to buy food at the commissary or eat a vegan diet, he said in the lawsuit, which was filed in state court in Tallahassee and which The Orlando Sentinel reported on this week. 
 
 Gretl Plessinger, a spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Corrections, said inmates can choose an alternative vegan meal if they do not want soy. “We have a constitutional obligation to feed them healthy, nutritious food, but we don’t have an obligation to feed them beef,” she said.
– The low-cost, soy-based diet served in Florida's prisons amounts to cruel and unusual punishment, says a 34-year-old lifer who is suing the state, reports the Orlando Sentinel. Eric Harris, who was convicted for sexual battery on a child, says the cheap meat substitute is causing painful cramps and gas, and hurting his thyroid and immune system, notes the New York Times. Florida prisons switched from beef and pork to turkey and soy in 2009, reducing the cost of meals in half, to about $1.70 per prisoner per day. "These men are guinea pigs who are being fed high levels of soy," said a spokeswoman for a nonprofit group that rails against soy food. It is backing both this suit and a similar one by prisoners in Illinois. Counters a prison spokeswoman: "We are required to provide a nutritional meal, which we do, but we also have to be mindful of taxpayers who are footing the bill."