California is being left behind when it comes to realizing the benefits of wholesome food and healthy diets in correctional facilities. While the California Model reform effort may eventually improve access to quality food for people incarcerated in CDCR facilities, several states are showing what is possible — and cost effective — through their innovative food programs.

Leading the way nationwide is the Maine Department of Corrections, and in particular their Mountain View Correctional Facility. According to a report by Impact Justice, titled “Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison,” the food program at Mountain View serves to dispel the myth that healthy, quality meals in prisons are not feasible.

The facility’s food service manager, Mark McBrine, previously worked as an organic farmer and in the hospitality industry. “Food can be medicine or it can be poison,” said McBrine, according to the report.

To implement his vision of food as medicine at Mountain View, McBrine established partnerships with local farms to source vegetables, meat, dairy, and whole grain flour, creating a win-win sourcing arrangement. 

Ingredients at the facility are also grown in large on-site gardens and an adjacent seven-acre apple orchard.

The facility’s two-and-half acres of gardens produce an impressive 150,000 pounds of produce per year, tended to by gardener positions from among the incarcerated residents. 

McBrine shared that his facility, the facility averages over 30% local produce while staying approximately $100,000 under budget. Despite this budget surplus, examples of menu items include roasted turkey, heirloom carrots, homemade muffins, and fresh baked bread.

The prison also has a well-reputed culinary training program run in partnership with the nonprofit Hospitality Maine, providing apprenticeships for graduates. Additionally, incarcerated people working on grounds-keeping crews are encouraged to enroll in a Gardener’s Master Course run with the University of Maine Cooperative Extension, increasing opportunities for meaningful employment upon parole.  

This innovative food effort is aided by supportive policies by the Maine DOC, which encourages sourcing produce from on-site or in-state farms, according to the report. Importantly, the Maine DOC allows the facility’s food service managers considerable control over menu planning and food purchasing in consultation with the department’s contracted dietitian, resulting in greatly improved quality of ingredients and meals. 

This is in marked contrast to CDCR policies, which dictate a standardized statewide menu for every institution and mandate extensive sourcing of lunches and meal ingredients through the California Prison Industry Authority. 

“The quantity is not so great and the quality is straight garbage,” said Jason Cole, who works in the H-Unit kitchen. 

At the San Quentin Rehabilitation Center, administrators are aware of the need to improve the quality of the food service as part of the effort to “reimagine San Quentin.” Even so, progress has been slow.

San Quentin’s food Manager, Warren Clark, said during a meeting with incarcerated residents that he is working with CDCR administrators and dietitians at the state level to try to test and improve the standardized menu while meeting the state’s dietary mandates. Besides the current constraints of standardization, Clark also has to contend with a food budget of only $4.30 per person per day for all three meals. For context, the state of California runs residential facilities for veterans with an allocation of $11.80 per day, as reported by Impact Justice. 

According to the CDCR’s operations manual, the department “shall provide inmates with a healthy and nutritionally balanced diet, served in an orderly manner with food flavor, texture, temperature, appearance, and palatability taken into consideration.” This is in stark contrast to what most incarcerated people express about their experience in California’s prisons.

“I believe that improving the quality of the food served and access to good food is absolutely essential to making San Quentin into an actual rehabilitation center,” said resident Kenny Rogers, who is chair of the Inmate Advisory Council’s subcommittees, on food resources, and the California Model. “I think that improving our food is the single most important thing that we can readily do to make believers out of the population that real change is underway.”

To that end, Rogers said he has been impressed with the willingness of Clark and other kitchen staff to collaborate and work toward solutions. He said there are some exciting food initiatives in development that his committees are helping to bring to fruition.

The concept of food as medicine is a pathway to improve the quality of food served in prisons as well as improve morale and reduce medical expenditures, which eat up a third of CDCR’s budget. 

“Part of embracing the normalcy pillar [of the California Model] like in Norway is being able to build and reinforce the ability to make smart food decisions,” said Dr. Garcia-Grossman, a primary care physician and doctor of internal medicine at a UCSF-affiliated hospital in San Francisco, who has conducted research on the effects of incarceration on health. 

During a phone interview, Garcia-Grossman said that CDCR’s food system “leaves a lot of room for improvement. 

Food is medicine and investing in food as a preventative health measure can help prevent various health conditions down the line. She said Frankly, it’s atrocious what they are serving.”

Residents such as Kelton O’Connor hope that CDCR will be inspired to follow the lead of prison food service innovators, whether in Maine or Norway, who are showing what’s possible.

“Right now, in [California’s prisons] we have a right to kill ourselves with food but not the right to heal ourselves with food,” O’Connor said.\

Other Food Innovations at U.S. Prisons:

• The dining hall at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Littlerock, Washington, has a wall of windows and outdoor eating area for both residents and staff.
• The Northeastern Correctional Center in Concord, Massachusetts, operates a restaurant open to the public called Fife and Drum that is staffed by incarcerated culinary trainees.
• The Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell, Ohio, holds outdoor cookouts for incarcerated men preparing to be released along with their families.
• The Texas Department of Criminal Justice has a program called Herbs Behind Bars where nearly 60 facilities across the state grow culinary herbs to enhance their meal service.  
• The Sustainability in Prisons Project, which is a partnership between Washington State DOC and the Evergreen State College, runs educational classes and environmental projects including beekeeping, food gardens, composting, and captive breeding programs for endangered plants and animals. Projects are run in collaboration with scientists, college staff and students, and incarcerated people.
• Maryland has launched a Farm to Prison Project that helps to connect correctional facilities with small-scale farms to source high-quality fresh seasonal produce.
• The Center for Good Food Purchasing provides structures and support to help public institutions, including prisons, transition to more local, healthy, fair, and environmentally sustainable procurement practices, while leveraging purchasing power to shift vendor practices.
• World-class chef Dan Giusti started an organization called Brigaid, which places culinary professionals in school and prison kitchens to train local staff in cooking whole food from scratch to make delicious and nutritious meals appropriate for large-scale institutional cooking while meeting budgets and nutritional requirements. 
• Each housing unit at the Noble Correctional Institution in Ohio has its own small garden that residents tend to and eat from as they wish. Some of the units have prep tables with toaster ovens and George Foreman grills to complement the typical microwaves and hotpots.