Vegan Diet in Prison

[robert]

Here is a news story from Portland, Oregon.

 

Cuisine is lean for vegan in county jail

Diet - The lockup in Portland provides special meals, but only for religious or medical reasons

Thursday, November 24, 2005

BOAZ HERZOG

 

Stephen Philip Marshall, like most Americans, will be offered turkey and stuffing today.

 

But Marshall, 20, accused of eco-sabotage and housed in the Justice Center jail, may not eat much of his Thanksgiving dinner. Since he was put in jail Aug. 31, he has asked for vegan meals: no meat, eggs or dairy.

 

Jail officials, however, have turned him down. The jail's kitchen provides custom meals only for religious or medical reasons. Marshall cites no religious conviction for his vegan diet but rather his beliefs against animal cruelty.

 

Marshall is accused of plotting to blow up trucks and equipment belonging to Morse Bros., which he claimed is polluting a stream in Washington County. He has a Dec. 6 trial date in federal court.

 

His beef with the jail helps illustrate how food has tormented corrections facilities.

 

"It's a huge problem," said Lt. Michael Shults, a spokesman for the Multnomah County Sheriff's Office, which operates the county jails. "There's always somebody coming in and saying, 'I can't eat that.' Once you give someone one thing and somebody else another, we're running a full scale buffet, which is very expensive."

 

As of Friday, the county was providing 139 special diets for about 10 percent of the total jail population. Religious diets include one kosher, 17 halal and 44 vegetarian or vegan meals. Other special diets meet medical needs. Shults said a panel of chaplains, including Muslim and Buddhist clerics, helps screen religious dietary requests based on documented practice. "Portland is a very diverse community," Shults said. "We decided to go out and ask for help."

 

Shults said the special diets are expensive. A kosher meal, for example, costs $5. The typical jail meal is 50 cents.

 

Shults also said sticking to one menu helps keep the jail in order. Differences among inmate culinary inclinations have escalated from food fights to lawsuits in jails across the nation.

 

"Being fair and consistent is the key to running a jail," Shults said. "When you're dealing with predators, and one person gets something another person is not getting, assaults occur, riots occur."

 

Marshall's attorney would not allow his client to comment. But Chantel Guidry, a Lawrence, Kan.-based member of the prisoner support network Anarchist Black Cross, is leading a letter-writing campaign to get Marshall his vegan diet. She has been corresponding with Marshall and is convinced of his sincerity.

 

"I find it hard to believe everyone in prison would suddenly want vegan meals," she said. "We're a meat-based society."

 

Marshall is surviving on whatever vegan items come his way on his meal tray, Guidry said. She has traded about a dozen letters with Marshall for months and said she is worried his health will deteriorate.

 

"It is not necessary that Mr. Marshall lose a great deal of weight and risk his good health just because he is not a member of an accepted religion," Guidry wrote in a letter dated Monday to the Justice Center jail captain.

 

Shults did not know if Marshall had lost weight since coming to jail.

 

"He seems to be fine," he said.

 

Boaz Herzog: 503-412-7072; [email protected]

 

 

 

 

---Some people have been writing on his behalf and have received this message from the Sheriff:

 

The Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office manages three local detention facilities with a total population of nearly 1600 inmates. All of our menus are approved by a registered dietitian and meet requirements for quality and caloric intake. We serve diets based on religious requirements upon request, once the requestor’s religious practice is verified. The verification process occurs usually during the same day. Diets based on a medical need are prepared according to the specifications of the physician. The performance of our food service provider is routinely reviewed to ensure adherence to these requirements.

 

The Sheriff’s Office is obligated to operate the corrections facilities in a manner consistent with a humane and safe environment. We do so and regularly exceed the standards established to maintain a constitutional system. At the same time we’re managing a progressive system, we’re obligated to control costs. We view every budgeted dollar as money meant to provide direct service to the community and we take this duty very seriously.

 

Our annual food service costs run in the neighborhood of $3 million. This cost includes the expense of providing the standard meals, as well as the religious and medically necessary meals. Offering meals based on preference is not a fiscally supportable long-term practice. Keep in mind that once the preference option is offered, the detention system will be obligated to provide this option to every person in the system. Serving 4800 meals daily across three facilities is a significant part of our operation. Potentially undertaking the obligation to serve 1600 individually preferenced meals, three times a day, will add a substantial cost to our food service and operational budgets.

 

I hope you appreciate the ongoing challenge of balancing the operation of a humane and constitutional detention system, along with directing as many public safety services as possible into the community. We take both responsibilities very seriously.

 

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Bernie A. Giusto

Sheriff

[robert]

Here is a copy of one of the letters sent. Many others have been writing too:

 

I live in Roseburg(about 3 hours south of PDX). I will write him some encouraging words. I have also emailed the prison. Here is my letter:

 

Dear Sir of Madam,

It has come to my attention that a prisoner being held at your facility, a Mr. Stephen Marshall 691374mcdc is being denied the nutrition that he needs. I am aware that he is a vegan, and refuses to eat animal products. I have been informed that he is being denied alternatives to the meat based meals that are provided to the prisoners. I feel that this is cruel punishment. He should not be required to have a specific religion to be allowed this basic need. He believes in ahimsa, which means non-violence toward sentient beings, which requires a cruelty free diet(veganism). This may not be a religion, but it is a strong personal belief, which is just as worthy of proper attention. Please work towards providing this man with decent meals that suit his dietary requirements. He may be in prison, but he should not be denied of his human right to choose not to eat the flesh and secretions of dead animals. Thank you sincerely.

Brook Hosford

Roseburg, Or

Hope it helps!

[veggymeggy]

Heeeeeey, I remember reading this article (in the original newspaper) when I went home for Thanksgiving. At the time I was planning on cutting it out to show you and Topher, and I totally forgot. Guess you found it anyway!

[robert]

Yeah my brother-in-law Evrim sent it to me. He always spots things like this and lets me know.

 

-Rob

[Michelle]

I think prisons would be much more peaceful places if they served only vegan food.

[CrispyQ]

I think prisons would be much more peaceful places if they served only vegan food.

 

I was thinking the same thing. Get rid of the hormones & all the overly processed crap. In the movie "Super Size Me" they showed a school that went with a whole foods type lunch program vs. junk lunch. The teachers said their students performance, attitude & attention all improved on the better diet. Well duh!! What a concept!

 

 

I also don't understand why ethical reasons for a diet are not as valid as religious reasons.

[buzz]

In the UK you can get vegan food in jail, but only if you are a member of the vegan society. Seems strange, and not sure if there is a specific duration you have to have been a member for, otherwise you could just join before going down.... hmm, maybe safer to join anyway, just in case

[madcat]

I was thinking the same thing. Get rid of the hormones & all the overly processed crap. In the movie "Super Size Me" they showed a school that went with a whole foods type lunch program vs. junk lunch. The teachers said their students performance, attitude & attention all improved on the better diet. Well duh!! What a concept!

 

i thought that prisons added stuff to their food to improve their attitudes....

[madcat]

Wow, my quote came out all wrong!