• nancy a heitzeg

    one more link…

     

    Asked and Answered: Brian Price
    Ex-Inmate Shares Stories of Stint as a Death Row Chef
     
    http://www.nytimes

    • Anonymous

      hmmm….link not working – can you repost?  thanks.

      • sorry — here it is

        Ex-Inmate Shares Stories of Stint as a Death
        Row Chef

        http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/us/former-inmate-shares-tricks-of-the-trade-of-a-death-row-chef.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all%3Fsrc%3Dtp&smid=fb-share

        Excerpt:

        ” It’s politically motivated. They waited for a heinous
        crime — the most heinous one in years here in Texas, first off — and
        then someone who ordered a lot of food, which they do that quite often
        anyhow. And they decided to stop the last meal request and give them
        what was on the line for that day. What raised the fur on my back was —
        how can one person do this? The State of Texas sends these people to the
        death chamber. It’s up to the folks of Texas if they want to stop a
        tradition, an age-old tradition. One or two men shouldn’t have the
        stroke of power to do that. What I’m trying to get across is to take
        this to the Legislature and put it to a vote. If the taxpayers want to
        stop last meal requests and show a calloused heart — but I truly believe
        it’s going to be turned around and they’ll reinstate the last meal
        request. No, these people don’t deserve a last meal request, but we as a
        society have to show that softer side, that compassion. It’s bad enough
        that we have the death penalty, it’s so archaic, but then to turn
        around and say, “No, we’re not going to feed you,” just out of pure
        meanness or something. I don’t know. We have to show that we are not
        distorting that justice with revenge. ”

         

  • Additional info on the legality of this all

    http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/rss/ci_16886434

    “With the Eighth Amendment, the law on prison conditions is looking at a baseline, not the ideal,” said Mona Lynch, professor of criminology, law and society at UC Irvine and the director of the school’s Center in Law, Society and Culture. “It’s a fairly tough hurdle to claim something is unconstitutional…. Courts don’t necessarily look at psychological effects, they look at if it will
    make you physically ill. Courts traditionally look at things like: Is it too hot or too cold? Is there rampant pestilence, rampant infestation of rodents? Is nutrition below what is needed to survive and maintain adequate body weight? Is water drinkable and potable? It’s very, very basic stuff. As long as its not killing them its should be OK.”

    One case brought in Oregon made it to the United States Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit, where the judges argued in their 1993 decision that “[t]he Eighth Amendment requires only that prisoners receive food that is adequate to maintain health; it need not be tasty or aesthetically appealing.”

  • Withholding the basic necessity to survive in this world is simply EVIL mindset and these people running the prison complex can’t think of doing anything other than horrible things to prisoners. What a pity it is when these people don’t have any compassion or a human soul in ’em.

    Great post Nancy as always and missing you all.  

    • Well said TiMT — what is wrong with people?  NO empathy. 

      A huge hug for you my dear brother.

      • Wavin’ atcha sister Seeta. “what is wrong with people?”…in one word, GREED. It make these people to look at those in Prison as less than human deserving of inhuman treatment and exploitable because no one in power is standing up for them. There is no compassion nor empathy indeed.

    • TiMT!!!  Amen!

      So great to see you – Been missing you too!

       

    • Anonymous

      hey, TiMT!  great to see you – and your comment is right on time.

      Missing you, too.

      • ((((Kay))))

        • Anonymous

          {{{{{TiMT}}}}

    • Bbeachbabefl

      missing you too TiMT

    • ((((bro TiMT))))

      I’ve been thinking of you!  Glad to see you!

  • Happy Diwali to those celebrating and observing.  Health and happiness to all in the new year.  Let’s re-dedicate ourselves to dismantling racist, dehumanizing institutions like the prison industrial complex.

    Dignity and justice for all.

    ::Terrorist fist bump::

    • ::Terrorist fist bump::

    • Anonymous

      ::Terrorist fist bump::

  • rising state correctional costs  — which of course could be addressed by reduced incarceration — but instead are met with reduced services

    From the Vera Institute…

    http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/report_detail.aspx?id=54394

    • Cedwyn

      but of course.  i think nationally, the tab for busting potheads runs in the multi-billions.  can’t have that money go to adequately addressing real crime and feeding prisoners, heavens no!

      • hey cedwyn :)

        you got it!

        as usual– great to see you

        • Anonymous

          great to see you!  it’s been a weird couple of weeks.

  • Anonymous

    In fact, no matter how you look at it, food – the provision of it as well as the denial of it – is punishment in U.S. prisons and jails.

  • I had no idea about the dietary loaf — dehumanizing, degrading, and demeaning.  Strip people of their dignity and attempts to break their spirits. Food intake has more than just physiological (or, sometimes, political) import, but also has emotional and spiritual significance.  This is deeply disturbing.  Thanks so much for shedding light on this Nancy.  I had no idea. 

    Shared far and wide.

    • yes,  this — ” dehumanizing, degrading, and demeaning.”

      This was a hard piece to write — it is so close to the essence of survival and seems particularly cruel..

      and thank you — as always — seeta for hosting here..

      Eternally grateful

    • Anonymous

      Exactly, Seeta.  Powerfully said. 

    • They joked about the Loaf of course at Angola..

      Offered some to students — was as horrible as expected..:(

    • Anonymous

      totally.  i mean, how could there not be bad juju on the food when the dish’s own name is “disciplinary diet loaf”?  you can’t be running negative energy if you’re setting about cooking for people. 

  • Bbeachbabefl

    We can influence for improved food system by petitioning our congress critters who are already working on the 2012 Farm Bill. They will be dealing with farm subsidies
    Sign petition for a fair farm bill here:
    http://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/food/fair-farm/actions/

    • thanks for this link

      btw more from me  soon on the Climate CoLab Project :)

      • Bbeachbabefl

        thanks,  we have picked up some more supporters there .

        • Good — yours is clearly the best proposal :)

          Not that i am biased or anything…

  • Hey Nancy! Great piece.  I too am fascinated with the concept of food used as punishment.  Thanks for writing about an aspect of prison life that is not often addressed.

    • Thank you Mariame..

      It is unthinkable really — as is so much involving the pic..

  • Bbeachbabefl

    It really seems that with institutions in the US including schools, prisons etc. that the problems with  poor food stem from our broken food system.  Federal food subsidies that go toward production of factory meat and food for that meat make the unhealthy product more affordable.    I don’t think we can improve institutional food without improving our national agriculture system.

    • you know i am with you on this..

      Yes the collision of broken systems

    •  here is a link from Kay that may be of interest to you..

      http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/nutrition-gardening-prison-programs.html

      • Great article.  

      • Bbeachbabefl

        yes, good article and that is true in schools also where it’s been found that malnourished children do not do well in school.    People just can not function well with poor nutrition.  But less violent…that’s interesting and does make sense.

        • Anonymous

          I’m somewhat cautious on the “less violent” front, but do feel that the whole nutrition thing affects people in profound ways.  Combine lousy nutrition with torturous and inhumane conditions – who wouldn’t feel violent? 

          • Anonymous

            throw in all the sugar and caffeine, utter boredom and gym equipment and…

  • Excellent.  Thank you, Nancy.  This is an issue I had not thought much about but will be reading the links that you posted.

    • thank you princss6 — it frankly is so fundamental that is becomes easy to overlook..

      appreciate you being here — as always

  • Bbeachbabefl

    excellent as usual Nancy.   Some good news from Florida which you may have heard.   Gov. Scott has lost his bid to privatize 32 s. Florida prisons as judge ruled plan violated state constitution.   He is losing court cases right and left.  http://www.tampabay.com/news/education/teachers/florida-judge-cuts-to-state-employees-pay-violated-contract/1198705

    • Great news!!

      and great to see you too :) thanks as always — beachbabe

    • Anonymous

      Great news, beachbabe!  thanks. 

      May he lose still more court cases. 

  • Let me also recommend a splendid piece found on the Prison Photography blog — “The Last Meals of the Executed: A Selection
    of Projects in Photography and Painting”

    http://prisonphotography.wordpress.com/2011/03/13/the-last-meals-of-the-executed-a-selection-of-projects-in-photography-and-painting/

    A sample — from Ceila Shapiro’s Last Suppers —

    John William Rook, age 27, executed by North
    Carolina, 9/19/86. © Celia A. Shapiro

     

  • Anyone who has ever visited or spent time in a “total institution” of any sort knows that part of the oppression is the smell — of sweat and stress and cleaning fluids and bad food, all mingled together…

    Prison food is its’ own particular hell, even without the additional restrictions and application of  food as punishment..

    On visits to Angola, guests can eat lunch for a $3 fee — it is difficult for me to even force myself to recall the specific menus — all i remember is the heavy use of bacon grease and the sense of shame that i could not consume even one bite of the fare others are forced to eat everyday..

    So much can be taken for granted…

    • Anonymous

      amen. 

  • Anonymous

    thank you, Nancy.  So powerful.  Food = justice.

    Or, in this case, lack of same. 

    • Anonymous

      Or I should have said:  adequate, healthy food and good nutrition is a part of justice and human rights.

      • i did not even began to touch on the issue of  religion and dietary restrictions..

        Here is a recent controversy…

        Sorry the link goes to HuffPO  — all other citings were at rabid right-wing sites..

        http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/05/ohio-prison-pork-muslim-lawsuit_n_996094.html

        COLUMBUS, Ohio — A decision by Ohio officials to remove all pork products
        from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates is not sitting well
        with the state’s pork producers and processors.

        Both promise action of their own, including a possible counter lawsuit, to
        address what they consider an unfair and illogical decision.

        “We really think it’s not in the best interest, frankly, of the whole prison
        system,” said Dick Isler, executive director of the Ohio Pork Producers Council.
        “It seems like we’re letting a small group make the rules when it really isn’t
        in the best interest of the rest of prisoners.”

        Pork is inexpensive and nutritious and compares well with other lean meats,
        he said.

        Ironically, the inmates’ lawsuit doesn’t involve pork at all; it demands that
        non-pork meats like beef come from animals slaughtered according to Islamic law.
        But the prisons system responded by simply removing pork as an option
        altogether……

        • So there is a request for Halal food and the solution is to ban pork?  

          • yes  — although that solves next to nothing..

            Sigh…

          • Anonymous

            well, yes.  to offer a non-pork alternative would be to cater to prisoners and it would just be the end of the world to accord them a smidge of respect.  especially foolhardy when you can punish the lot of ’em by banning pork altogether. 

        • wow….