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PLAINFIELD – A central Indiana prison has stopped serving lunches to inmates on Fridays and weekends in what it calls a move to free up more time for classes and recreation.
While other states have cut prisoner meals to save money, officials say the driving force at the Plainfield Correctional Facility was efficiency.
“Serving meals is a time-consuming effort that takes hours,” Indiana Department of Correction spokesman Doug Garrison said. “By eliminating one meal, we are able to operate our programs more efficiently.”
The prison has received few complaints since going to the reduced meal schedule last month, spokesman Kevin Mulroony said.
Two square meals a day provides 2,500 calories, the same as three meals, Mulroony said.
Lunch is served at 11:30 a.m. Mondays through Thursdays. It is combined with breakfast the other days and is served at 6 a.m., with the menu consisting predominantly of breakfast food. Dinner is served 10 hours later at 4 p.m.
Mulroony said 33 inmates with special needs still receive regular lunches Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays.
The new schedule frees up time for classes, religious services and visits at the 1,600-inmate, medium-security prison about 15 miles west of Indianapolis, he said.
State lawmakers and a civil libertarian expressed concerns.
“We should treat our inmate population like human beings,” said Sen. Mike Delph, R-Carmel, chairman of the Senate corrections subcommittee. “Denying food or cutting back on meals is beneath the dignity of the state of Indiana and is not in sync with our Hoosier values.”
Rep. Bill Crawford, D-Indianapolis, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he doubted that prisoners are still getting their recommended calories.
Elizabeth Alexander, director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s National Prison Project, noted that eliminating lunches creates a long gap between meals.
“Making prisoners go hungry for long periods is not the way to solve anything,” she said. “Food is not the place to make cuts, especially since it is such a small percentage of a prison’s budget.”
Food service accounts for about 5 percent of the correction department’s $726 million budget in 2010.
During the first week of the new schedule, the main lunch courses were goulash, bologna, taco meat and sloppy Joes. At brunch, they were bologna, peanut butter, and oatmeal and sausage.
Mulroony acknowledged that traditional lunchtime offerings such as chicken and macaroni and cheese were missing at brunch. But he said the heavier foods aren’t included because of when they’re served.
“You try to serve more breakfast-type items because the offenders are still eating at 6 in the morning,” he said.
