Jail Chow Line Analysis

Tax crusader Douglas Bruce’s recent rant about Denver Jail food got me thinking about conditions here in the Criminal Justice Center. Bruce served 103 days for Tax Evasion. He called the Denver Jail food “unsanitary” and some of it, “sewage.”

I checked out the chow line at the Criminal Justice Center. A private contractor organizes and supervises inmate-help to make the food the inmates eat every day. Breakfast and dinner are hot meals. Lunch is a cold sack lunch. Undersheriff Paula Presley tells me, “They’re not served the same food every day. Obviously if you’re here for a period of time, you are going to receive the same meals. The meals are rotated every three to four weeks.” Presley also said the average daily calorie intake for inmates is 2900. She says that each meal costs roughly one dollar per inmate, per day, per meal.

Now to the big question of taste of the CJC chow. Inmate Neil Schober told me he does have some minor complaints about the food. Schober says, “Sometimes the guys who cook the meals overcook the noodles. By the time it gets here, it looks like a big lump of goo, mush.” Schober just graduated from a CJC program to train people in the culinary arts so that when he gets out of jail he can find a job in food service. Schober also put the food complaints in perspective. He said, “There ain’t nothing to complain about. All you got to look forward to is your meal and mail. Prisoners complain about something because you ain’t got nothing better to do.”

Presley said, “Serving the food and providing them with the nutritional value is utmost and a priority here.” I asked, “So ultimately it’s not about taste?” Presley responded with, “It absolutely is about safety.”

Prisoners can purchase items at the CJC Commissary or the Food Cart. They have to spend their own money or have money put in to their account from the outside. The prices are steep, but you get your choice of food. Inmates can spend up to 75 dollars per week. The money goes to Inmate Services which means less tax money out of your pocket for necessary inmate items like bedding or even footwear.