What stayed with me most was the shift from morality to physiology. The piece refuses the comforting illusion that degradation rehabilitates people. Hunger changes the nervous system. Isolation changes the nervous system. Repeated humiliation changes the nervous system. The image of someone not seeing a blueberry for five years says more about institutional failure than a thousand policy debates. What makes this essay powerful is that it keeps returning to something painfully simple: if we keep feeding people like they are disposable, we should not be surprised when despair returns to society altered into violence.
There's something about a reply to these posts that could be a post themselves. Thank you for reading, and for seeing the truth. The world needs more of you. 🖤
Extremely thought-provoking. Food is so important to our mental and physical health, and thus emotional health. There's no reason not to do this in as many prisons as possible. I also think this is a strong argument for why food welfare recipients should be restricted to using government aid to purchase only healthy foods. Let's put our tax dollars to more reformative work in both the prison and welfare sectors.
Bridget, the contrast between your frustration over mushy blueberries and the reality of your son's daily meals is powerful because it reveals how quickly perspective can reorder our grievances. I was especially struck by the argument that prison food is not merely a matter of comfort or punishment, but of public health, rehabilitation, and community safety. Chandler's account adds an important layer by showing that a different approach is not theoretical; it already exists and is producing measurable results. Thank you for challenging readers to consider how something as ordinary as food can shape both individual lives and the kind of society we ultimately create together.
I will never forget the day I was eating lunch with my third grade students (because at that school we weren’t even allowed the meager 20 minute break that constituted “lunchtime”, in flagrant violation of our contract) and some kids started to argue loudly at one end of the table. I went over to see what was going on - and found five or six kids fighting over a couple perfectly green pieces of broccoli. All the other broccoli everyone had been served was over-steamed, mushy, and brownish, but one lucky kid had somehow ended up with a beautiful little pile of florets. And other students were competing with each other to trade their tater tots and nacho chips for it.
My point is, it really struck me that day that kids can instinctively know exactly what you’re talking about in this article - so strongly that they’re willing to fight for a scrap of healthy food. Of course, twenty-five years later we don’t even serve actual cooked whole foods in schools anymore, just steamed, plastic-wrapped ultra-processed crap from Aramark or Sodexo. And some of those kids at least had a fighting chance when they went home at night (some didn’t, I always taught in high poverty schools located in food deserts) whereas prisoners are at the mercy of the system they’re in. But there are parallels, and it speaks loud volumes about who and what we absolutely do not value. As you pointed out, the consequences fall on us whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
Thank you for this story. I actually see a huge link in the overall poor nutrition for our children and where we are with prison food. This country’s organizations have lost their ability to even ascertain what ‘healthy’ is. When I was sick, I was repeatedly told to drink a highly processed, sugar-laden, shit protein drink like Ensure by medical “professionals.” Synthetic, low quality fillers will never help us thrive- from cradle to the grave, from hospital kitchens to school lunchrooms to prison chow halls…. we have to wake up.
Absolutely. I’ve been fighting it for sixteen years and I’m grateful my kids have reaped some of the benefits of that. But what’s really scary is recognizing that this is no accident. The system isn’t broken, it’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do.
thank you for bringing this to our attention. I did not know about Maine's program, but it seems like a good one. It makes perfect sense that if you treat people like human beings by feeding them actual food rather than slop, they start acting more like human beings.
When I was a prison nurse, they actually had a soap factory that the inmates could work at, and a garden that they cultivated for their food. They both had the added incentive of creating a sense of pride and sense of accomplishment in the inmates, which was definitely a bonus for their mental health. Those programs make sense and seem like no brainers for both the prison and tax paying populations.
Did the inmates get to eat what they produced in their gardens? In Michigan, it is a requirement that anything they pull in is donated and not consumed on site. In fact, they are punished if they eat any of it. The sense of accomplishment and pride is real!!
My mouth is hanging open & it should be b/c I've been following your work long enough to know that "what is reasonable" and "what happens in prisons" are not the same things. But WTF would they not allow prisoners to eat any of the food they raise?!? (I'm 100% sure the answer has something to do with "punishment" and yes, the complete similarity to the slavery system is noted!)
Sometimes, a minor domestic frustration is actually a thin veil for a massive, structural heartbreak. This breathtaking essay begins in a warm, furnished kitchen with a complaint about mushy blueberries, before a sudden flash of clarity strikes: “My son has not seen a blueberry in five years.” What follows is a deeply moving, fiercely intelligent exploration of how the American prison system is systematically starving our incarcerated citizens and why prison food is a critical public safety crisis that affects us all.
Closer every day to putting all of the pieces together. It will always be a puzzle but at least we can see what we're working with more clearly!! Mayo is incredible.
would you mind sending me links of the main studies so I can use in our work? We want to see if the malagasy government will allow us to do the same kind of small scale study in one prison, to convince them that one meal/day not only starves prisoners to death, but also goes against their push toward re-insertion and recividism. If we can get some studies behind our belt, I can maybe apply for funding.
Certainly! There are two links in the article (where I mention them, they're underlined). My goodness, I hope you can achieve what you're attempting. My heart is with you.
Excellent cases presented here. Prisons in rural areas should pursue this idea. Bridget, if you know of a rural prison in the Southeast doing this, please let us know. That's within our coverage area and would make an excellent feature for an upcoming issue.
When I worked at summer camp as a cook, we were required to meet certain standards with our meals - inclucing protiens, fruits and veggies, and dairy. It's shocking to me that prisons aren't held to that same standard.
What stayed with me most was the shift from morality to physiology. The piece refuses the comforting illusion that degradation rehabilitates people. Hunger changes the nervous system. Isolation changes the nervous system. Repeated humiliation changes the nervous system. The image of someone not seeing a blueberry for five years says more about institutional failure than a thousand policy debates. What makes this essay powerful is that it keeps returning to something painfully simple: if we keep feeding people like they are disposable, we should not be surprised when despair returns to society altered into violence.
There's something about a reply to these posts that could be a post themselves. Thank you for reading, and for seeing the truth. The world needs more of you. 🖤
Thank you for writing it the way you did.
Some truths become harder to ignore once they’re spoken plainly. 🖤
Extremely thought-provoking. Food is so important to our mental and physical health, and thus emotional health. There's no reason not to do this in as many prisons as possible. I also think this is a strong argument for why food welfare recipients should be restricted to using government aid to purchase only healthy foods. Let's put our tax dollars to more reformative work in both the prison and welfare sectors.
Agreed on all counts!
Agreed as well. 🖤
Bridget, the contrast between your frustration over mushy blueberries and the reality of your son's daily meals is powerful because it reveals how quickly perspective can reorder our grievances. I was especially struck by the argument that prison food is not merely a matter of comfort or punishment, but of public health, rehabilitation, and community safety. Chandler's account adds an important layer by showing that a different approach is not theoretical; it already exists and is producing measurable results. Thank you for challenging readers to consider how something as ordinary as food can shape both individual lives and the kind of society we ultimately create together.
It is the most basic look at what we're doing with our "rehabilitation" claims on this country. If we can't feed people nutrients, we aren't serious.
I will never forget the day I was eating lunch with my third grade students (because at that school we weren’t even allowed the meager 20 minute break that constituted “lunchtime”, in flagrant violation of our contract) and some kids started to argue loudly at one end of the table. I went over to see what was going on - and found five or six kids fighting over a couple perfectly green pieces of broccoli. All the other broccoli everyone had been served was over-steamed, mushy, and brownish, but one lucky kid had somehow ended up with a beautiful little pile of florets. And other students were competing with each other to trade their tater tots and nacho chips for it.
My point is, it really struck me that day that kids can instinctively know exactly what you’re talking about in this article - so strongly that they’re willing to fight for a scrap of healthy food. Of course, twenty-five years later we don’t even serve actual cooked whole foods in schools anymore, just steamed, plastic-wrapped ultra-processed crap from Aramark or Sodexo. And some of those kids at least had a fighting chance when they went home at night (some didn’t, I always taught in high poverty schools located in food deserts) whereas prisoners are at the mercy of the system they’re in. But there are parallels, and it speaks loud volumes about who and what we absolutely do not value. As you pointed out, the consequences fall on us whether we choose to acknowledge it or not.
Thank you for this story. I actually see a huge link in the overall poor nutrition for our children and where we are with prison food. This country’s organizations have lost their ability to even ascertain what ‘healthy’ is. When I was sick, I was repeatedly told to drink a highly processed, sugar-laden, shit protein drink like Ensure by medical “professionals.” Synthetic, low quality fillers will never help us thrive- from cradle to the grave, from hospital kitchens to school lunchrooms to prison chow halls…. we have to wake up.
Absolutely. I’ve been fighting it for sixteen years and I’m grateful my kids have reaped some of the benefits of that. But what’s really scary is recognizing that this is no accident. The system isn’t broken, it’s doing exactly what it’s designed to do.
BINGO.
thank you for bringing this to our attention. I did not know about Maine's program, but it seems like a good one. It makes perfect sense that if you treat people like human beings by feeding them actual food rather than slop, they start acting more like human beings.
Go figure, right?! My son often says that if it makes too much sense, the DOC isn't interested...
Your son is right! Don't get me started on gate money. That is, by far, the easiest way to garuntee additional criminal behavior.
When I was a prison nurse, they actually had a soap factory that the inmates could work at, and a garden that they cultivated for their food. They both had the added incentive of creating a sense of pride and sense of accomplishment in the inmates, which was definitely a bonus for their mental health. Those programs make sense and seem like no brainers for both the prison and tax paying populations.
Did the inmates get to eat what they produced in their gardens? In Michigan, it is a requirement that anything they pull in is donated and not consumed on site. In fact, they are punished if they eat any of it. The sense of accomplishment and pride is real!!
My mouth is hanging open & it should be b/c I've been following your work long enough to know that "what is reasonable" and "what happens in prisons" are not the same things. But WTF would they not allow prisoners to eat any of the food they raise?!? (I'm 100% sure the answer has something to do with "punishment" and yes, the complete similarity to the slavery system is noted!)
It is the mindset around punishment. I wrote about this in another piece last year. Here's more if you want to understand it!!
https://www.blacksheepmom.com/p/confession-8
Simply: Thank you for writing this.
And thank you for reading!
Indeed. Thank you for linking arms.
Sometimes, a minor domestic frustration is actually a thin veil for a massive, structural heartbreak. This breathtaking essay begins in a warm, furnished kitchen with a complaint about mushy blueberries, before a sudden flash of clarity strikes: “My son has not seen a blueberry in five years.” What follows is a deeply moving, fiercely intelligent exploration of how the American prison system is systematically starving our incarcerated citizens and why prison food is a critical public safety crisis that affects us all.
thanks you are a dear... hope you are finding a diagnosis at Mayo for your debilitating symptoms
and hope your son's homecoming is sweet
Closer every day to putting all of the pieces together. It will always be a puzzle but at least we can see what we're working with more clearly!! Mayo is incredible.
would you mind sending me links of the main studies so I can use in our work? We want to see if the malagasy government will allow us to do the same kind of small scale study in one prison, to convince them that one meal/day not only starves prisoners to death, but also goes against their push toward re-insertion and recividism. If we can get some studies behind our belt, I can maybe apply for funding.
A smaller study in the US: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1359178924000466?via%3Dihub
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20014286/
https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/influence-of-supplementary-vitamins-minerals-and-essential-fatty-acids-on-the-antisocial-behaviour-of-young-adult-prisoners/04CAABE56D2DE74F69460D035764A498
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s13063-021-05252-2
Certainly! There are two links in the article (where I mention them, they're underlined). My goodness, I hope you can achieve what you're attempting. My heart is with you.
Excellent cases presented here. Prisons in rural areas should pursue this idea. Bridget, if you know of a rural prison in the Southeast doing this, please let us know. That's within our coverage area and would make an excellent feature for an upcoming issue.
Oooh, I'll put some feelers out! Great idea.
When I worked at summer camp as a cook, we were required to meet certain standards with our meals - inclucing protiens, fruits and veggies, and dairy. It's shocking to me that prisons aren't held to that same standard.
They are held to standards, and those standards are not only out of date but appalling.
Great info and a lot to chew on!
No pun intended, NotTom? So much to chew on.
Pouty lips and dad jokes for days…