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Chapter 3

Danger Ahead! The Dining Facility

By far without question, the prison dining facility is the most dangerous place in the entire prison setting. This is the last place you want fights, disturbances, or major uprisings to occur. The dining facility maintains one the largest numbers of inmates at any one time in a controlled area. This setting takes place three times every day. Breakfast is normally served at 6:00 a.m., lunch at 11:00 a.m., and dinner at 4:00 p.m. Extreme caution is at the highest-level during meal-feeding times because of the type of environment. The inmates use this time to obtain extra food, steal food and condiments, barter, and trade for their profit. Inmates always gripe and complain on a continuous basis, especially concerning the type, taste, and quality of food they were being served. It is an impossible task to satisfy one inmate, let alone nearly one thousand, in a short one-hour time frame. For reasons unknown, the food does not agree to their taste buds, the food seems cold, their desired portion is too small, and they do not approve of the meal selection set forth by the prison master menu.

The dining facility is centrally located in the middle of the prison, set apart and fenced in separately from all other areas for the sole purposes of receiving food supplies and extra security.

The dining facility on the inside is split down the middle with a large four-foot concrete barrier wall between the east and west sides. The serving lines on both sides of the barrier serve the same type of food, with the only exception of medically controlled special diets. The dining area is furnished with stainless steel tables with the capacity to sit four inmates at one time. The table and chairs are mounted and secured to the floor. Inmates entering the dining facility for chow have their prison ID card swiped in the dining facility computer system by officers working on both sides. This is required for two reasons. The first is to ensure that proper head count is completed to record the exact number of meals being served, and the second reason is to ensure inmates do not switch sides of the dining facility in an attempt to consume an additional meal. Inmates are habitual complainers; they complain about the food but will steal or fight to obtain a double portion.

It’s an unexplainable game they play, and it makes no sense. However, this is the prison environment, and there are no logical explanations why they think or act in this manner. After having their card swiped into the computer, they move up one at a time to the serving line. The serving line is where they receive their individual food tray. Upon my arrival in the prison, the trays were made of metal, but for good reasons, they were changed to plastic trays. The serving line is uniquely designed with an opening at the bottom of the long stainless steel serving counter approximately ten to twelve inches where their tray is passed through to them. They have no physical contact with the cooks or access to the food being served.

They are able to see the inmate cook on the other side, serving their food, but cannot physically control the amount being placed on their tray. The amount of food placed on an inmate’s tray is required to be equally the same. For example, an inmate has one hamburger with bun, one desert, one vegetable, and one serving of french fries. Several times during feeding, a tray will purposely be passed out with two or more hamburgers with an extra serving of french fries. The officer assigned to observe the serving line will have the tray with extra food returned to the dining facility manager, and the inmate will be given a new tray with the proper amount of food. All inmates involved in this incident risk have the possibility of being written up for a violation and possibly being placed in segregation, pending on the outcome of an investigation.

The inmate cooks on the serving line will give out extra food for several reasons, usually because he owes a favor for his own selfish or financial gain, has a gambling debt, or has been threatened, and even for disgusting sexual favors.

There are normally four officers or less working the dining hall for all three meals. I have personally worked the dining hall when only three officers were present. This was the administration’s normal practice. This again goes back to the problem of manpower shortage of correctional staff. This makes your job more intense and frustrating as you are always waiting for the worst situation to happen.

Somewhere within the prison administration, it is conceived that taking the risk of someone getting hurt or possibly killed rather than properly staffing the prison is a chance they were willing to take. The same excuse was always about not enough money.

Several times, when an officer was hurt, it ended of up in the local court system and the administration being sued for inadequate staffing and protection for the officer who got hurt. One would have to ask, What is the value of protection, safety, and life of the correctional staff and the safety of the public? I personally believe they could care less as long as things ran smoothly in the prison. Many incidents in this setting could have been stopped before they started if proper staffing was assigned to the prison, especially in the dining facility during meals.

A larger portion of food being given to an inmate was usually stopped but not enough to brag about. The amount of food being taken from the dining facility to the yards or to the dorms was a constant issue seven days a week. It was never unusual to find food, coffee, apples, and oranges hidden in their wall lockers, pillowcases, boots, on their bodies, trash cans, under their clothing, or even inside their bodies. I had even found drinks and food inside the toilets. I will discuss this in a later chapter.

The worst scenario for a disturbance or a fight to break out would be in the main cooking area of the dining facility, especially during feeding of the meal. Inmates had access to all types of cooking utensils, such as knives, large spatulas, large metal spoons, large aluminum paddles, and many heavy aluminum and stainless steel pots in their work area. These tools were kept secured in a locked container and placed on a shadow board for visibility at all times.

One particular day, a metal spatula came up missing in the kitchen. The whole prison was placed on lockdown, and an immediate facility search was implemented. The spatula was never found. This could be a devastating situation resulting in a lot of injuries to the inmates and staff if not handled quickly and properly. For example, a large pot of hot boiling water or another type of liquid thrown on someone would be serious enough to cause major burns and injuries, not to mention the possibility of scaring for the rest of the individual’s life if they survived this assault. However, most fights in the dining area were between the inmates. Fights would start due to an inmate taking food from a weaker inmate’s tray or the tremendous heat in the kitchen. It involved certain gang-related (STG, special threat groups) groups sitting together and taking food from others’ trays. Inmates were prohibited from passing food from tray to tray or give their food to another inmate, but this occurred constantly even with cameras monitoring the feeding. With only a few officers in the dining hall, it was difficult, but that was due to not having enough eyes looking to stop their manipulating tactics before they got started.

It always amazed me that they complained about the food and the amount they received. If you were to go and visit your children or grandchildren at their local schools and see what type of meals they received, you would be devastated and shocked.

The meals inmates receive in the prison environment are far better than what is provided for you children in the local public schools. It is a crying shame. It’s unthinkable but a fact that convicted felons are eating better and healthier than your children at school.

What is chicken day? When the prison served chicken, they never had enough chicken to feed the entire population. They would always run out of chicken. Not enough chickens in the barn. The last dorm to eat would usually end up eating a substitute meal of beef patties or something that could be prepared quickly. The chicken thieves were out and were scouring up on every opportunity to steal the feathers right off the chicken before it was even cooked. It did not matter if you placed more staff on the yards, did more pat-down searches, or only fed a few at a time; chicken managed to get stolen all the time. I had personally found large bags of hot cooked chicken wrapped in plastic wrap inside a large garbage can. This would to be picked up later by another inmate. Chicken was a high commodity. It is an inmate treat to barter with, trade for other items, mix with ramen noodles, pay off, or used for all types of special favors.

Chicken to an inmate is one of his greatest assets even if it cost him several days in segregation or a bloody nose. All this for a piece of yard bird! Chicken cooked or not cooked had been found wrapped up in clear plastic and hid in the ceilings of the dining facility and, yes, even in the bathroom stalls and toilets of the dorms.

This may seem gross and sickening, but to an inmate, it was an acceptable practice and a justifiable trade-off for their own selfish reasons.