Best of British - prison food
Short article on past and current prison kitchen
I was always interested in food and cooking, and this caused particular delight when, over the past five years of service, I became the head of the investigation and audit team in one of the largest prisons in London. The task of the team was to check and report conditions in prisons. To allow me to do this work, I had to do a lot of research and knowledge gathering so that I could perform this function. Food processing and hygiene are only one of the main areas of coverage. Cooking methods, balanced diets, specialized medical diets are all part of the daily life of a prison or any other type of institutional kitchen.
Every prison in the UK is checked by an independent body, the HM Prison Inspectorate, on an irregular basis. Therefore, it is important that each prison kitchen is organized, maintained and managed to the highest standards at all times. In the late 1980s, the HM prison lost the safety of “Crown Immunity”. This prevented any form of prosecution through the courts for any violations of the law. Crown & # 39; could never prove himself - Crown verses of the crown. In fact, this meant that the prison could now receive severe penalties for poor work in any area, especially in the field of health and safety and public catering. It can also mean that the prison kitchen can even be closed if it turns out that it is in poor condition of management, maintenance or hygiene. This was highlighted very clearly in September 2009, when 370 prisoners in London’s largest prison, HMP Wandsworth, were overshadowed by salmonella poisoning. If you are suddenly ordered to shut down the prison kitchen, you can imagine the chaos that this will cause. HMP Wandsworth is the largest prison in Western Europe and has more than 1,600 prisoners. How do you provide more than 4,800 meals a day in a very short time? The only hope of keeping the roof in jail is to ensure that emergency workers implement homework, and an alternative system can be put into action immediately.
As it was before
Wandsworth Prison was built in 1851. She was one of the earliest London prisons and was originally called the Surrey House of Correctional Institutions. Mayhew & Benney, in his 1868 edition of the London Criminal Prisons, vividly described life in London prisons in 1800. Currently, there is no very high level of food on the agenda of the penitentiary system. Deterrence seemed to be a priority. Surrey Correction House was really built to help reduce overcrowding in Correction Houses in Brixton, Guildford and Kingston, where the prison fever was rampant and the prisoners died. When inspecting the Surrey Correctional Homes in 1862, Mayhew and Binnie noted the menus and diets of various classes of prisoners held in prison. Convicted prisoners employed by employees for the periods exceeding 21 days were allowed the following meals:
Breakfast 1 pint of oatmeal and 6 ounces of bread. Dinner. Sunday and Thursday. 1 pint of soup and 8 ounces of bread. Dinner. Tuesday and Saturday. 3 ounces cooked meat without bone. 8 ounces of bread. Lb lb potatoes Dinner. Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 8 ounces of bread. and 1 pound of potato Dinner Just like breakfast
As you can imagine, the low calorie and nutritional values of such a diet will lead to serious health problems - prison fever.
When I was working at the High Security High Security Prison in Surrey, we presented a framed copy of the recipe for Gruel to the county lieutenant lord. Then the governor of the prison, Stephen Prior, took the Lord Lieutenant and his wife home for dinner and guessed what was first on the menu — prison gruel. He really loved it! So much so that he designed his chef to add it to the dinner menu to impress his guests (I'm sure it was!).
This is an original recipe from Surrey House of Corrections. 1862: Ingredients for soup and gruel: soup per pint, 3 ounces of cooked meat, boneless, 3 ounces of potatoes, 1 ounce of barley, rice or oatmeal, and 1 ounce of onion or leek, with pepper and salt. Porridge contains 2 oz of oatmeal per pint. Gruel on alternate days is sweetened with three-quarters ounces of molasses or sugar and seasoned with salt.
During the seasons when the potato harvest failed, 4 ounces of chopped peas made in pudding can be replaced; but the change should not occur more than twice a week. Boys under the age of 14 should be placed on the same diet as women.
The diet for women was the same as for the male prisoner, except that when the male received 8 ounces of bread, the female would receive 6 ounces.
For those prisoners serving less than seven days, the menu was very simple: breakfast 1 pint of gruel Dinner 1 pound of bread Dinner 1 pint of cereal
These prison diets served well in 1900 and had nothing to do with today's prison food. Modern prisoners cannot stand it, and the authorities will never be able to allow it. Even the punitive diet of bread and water was removed from the Prison Rules in the 1960s. The term “Doing Porridge” is still an avid description of who is in prison, referring, of course, to the old oatmeal diet.
How is it now
A modern person needs about 2500 calories each day to maintain body weight, women require a little less. In the prisons of the 1800s, a prisoner was lucky to get 500 calories a day without the ability to increase consumption. Overcrowding - three to a cell built for one and hard labor, soon absorbed the small energy that the prisoner had. Poor health, lice, and unsanitary conditions resulted in injury to prison fever — epidemic typhoid.
Today, as well as to get a balanced and healthy prison diet, a prisoner can supplement his diet from the prison shop. Many prisoners are accommodated in solitary confinement cells or dormitories, and the overcrowding problems of the 1800s no longer exist in our modern prisons. In recent years, modern health programs, physical education programs and modern sanitary conditions have been introduced.
In the UK, the prison manager has about £ 1.87 ($ 4) to receive food for every prisoner every day. Young offenders are allowed to double this amount in the amount of $ 3.81 ($ 8) per day. The modern day prison service has put an emphasis on rehabilitation, although how successful this was controversial. Part of the rehabilitation process is to teach prisoners how to eat right and take care of themselves when they are released. For the penitentiary service in recent years, new veterinary regulations have been introduced that prevent the occurrence of health problems, which are fully reflected in the health budget in prisons. Long-term prisoners are especially at risk due to poor diet and poor health care. Diseases of diabetes, stroke and obesity are of particular concern.
Special diets are currently offered and include Muslim, kosher, Caribbean, diabetic, and other medical diets. Food service managers are now specifically trained in the preparation of these special diets. In many of the institutions where I worked, we even had Muslim and Jewish prisoners working in the kitchen to ensure that they prepared and prepared food in the proper way. For the Eid fever, local mosques supplied specially prepared food as a gift for Muslim prisoners. Similarly, a rabbi collected kosher food, which was sent whenever a Jewish holiday was celebrated. That would never have happened fifty years ago. It is also interesting to note the number of prisoners who convert to Islam when Ramadan approaches.
So, how have diets and menus changed over the years. Health and nutrition are still a priority in today's prison kitchen. In recent years, the amount of fried food has decreased. Chips with everything no longer apply. An increase in the number of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole-weight products and an increase in fish products, including fatty fish, was introduced in prisons not only in Great Britain, but also in European and American prisons.
One of the best nursing prisons in the world is located in Italy, where prisoners work on the production of organic fruits and vegetables, including olive oil. The prison has its own modern production facilities for the production of wine and gardening. The whole operation is controlled by a professional management team. Prisoners benefit by eating all of their homemade foods and even allow a small allowance for wine to lower cholesterol and even increase the ability to prevent certain forms of cancer. Now, is it progress or what?
It seems that there is some confusion about what prison food entails. As for the general public, some of them still believe that gruel, bread and water are still the main prison diet. There are many more people who say it should be.
They could not be further from this fact. As we have already noted, significant improvements have already been made in the prison diet. In most prisons in England and Wales, the catering offer has been privatized. Prisoners now have a choice that they can pre-select on a weekly basis, usually with a choice of three or more basic courses. Over the years, the Christmas menus have improved significantly and now provide the prisoners with a much better Christmas dinner than they have ever eaten outside the prison. In many of the lower security prisons, local retirees are invited to prison to eat a Christmas dinner with prisoners. In the end, the prisoners are still human beings, and many are making great efforts to ensure that the "grandmother" and "grandfather" is a glorious Christmas dinner.
So what does a modern prison menu look like? First, the breakfast menu. In all English prisons, every prisoner receives breakfast, which is issued the night before for use the next morning. This includes breakfast cereals, milk, tea bags, coffee bleach, sugar, brown or white bread, and dilution of jam and margarine or butter. They will also receive a weekly discount on tea bags and sugar to make themselves a cup of tea whenever they want. Each cell will have its own kettle. The daily challenge will also include special packages for vegans, vegetarians and various religious groups.
For midday and evening meals, almost every prison now uses a pre-selection system, in which a list of different meals is displayed every day, and each prisoner can order any food he prefers. Usually there are five or six alternatives to choose from. Fresh vegetables and fruits are served separately with each meal. The following is only a sample obtained in the prisons of London, where the pre-selection system has been successfully operating for almost ten years: first day. Meals during noon. Evening meal. Vegetarian pasta. Bakery products. Vegetable. Chicken and mushroom pie. Chicken. Supreme Halal Jamaican beef. Patti Halal. A hen. Curry Horned beef and marinated roll Fried chicken from potato and pork salad
Day Two Vegetable pancake rolls Bean and vegetable curry Breaded chicken Chasseur & Beano chicken cheese Grill Halal Beef Casserole Cheese and tomato Roll Fish in parsley Sauce Jacket Potato and tuna Vegetable salad Quiche
Day 3 Vegetarian sausage and egg Soy Lasagna Bacon, sausage and egg Mineral beef Lasagna Halalah sausage and egg Halal beef Italian Turkish salad rose Rice and beans Stuffed pepper salad Potatoes and ripe beans Cheese salad The pre-selection system has completed a long way, a way to make a long way. . Prisoners now have the opportunity to choose from a variety of options. In the early days, if you were not registered as a vegetarian, you could not have vegetarian food. If you are not a Muslim, you cannot choose a halal dish. Now everything has changed. Prisoners can choose any dish they prefer. One day they can eat vegetarian, halal next. Their choice. Overall, all prisons have now attempted to embrace a good health balance model (Food Standards Agency, 2001) and provide a balanced diet and a healthy diet. We have come a long way from the days of bread and water and a cup of porridge. Prisoners no longer die from typhus or malnutrition, and prisons are much easier and safer than prisoners and staff.
What will be the next stage? Will we see the introduction of self-service for prisoners? Each prison has its own supermarket. All prisons have their own version of the corner shop & # 39; where they can buy food supplements and small luxuries to make life more tolerant. This is not a big step to provide a supermarket and facilities for prisoners to prepare their meals. Most catering establishments and prison shops are already privatized. I am sure that ASDA or Sainsbury or Walmart will strive to have a prison shop with prisoners of nearly 2,000 clients every day.
LAST NEWS : How about a gourmet restaurant with low stone prices, excellently reviewed by Chris Campion's financial food crister? Well, it happened. The high-prison prison near London was the first prison facility to open a gourmet restaurant inside the prison - and its open to the public. All kitchen personnel are prisoners who are trained to be ready to release chefs and find work in the catering industry. Check it. You will be surprised.
http://www.billandsheilascookbook.com/TheClink.html
Bill Robinson MIMgt. HM Prison Governor (retired)
© Bill Robinson 2010
