Prisoners of Nevada filed a lawsuit claiming food provided by the state is unhealthy. The state Supreme Court agreed with prisoners in their ruling that prison officials are not providing a healthy diet, according to NevadaAppeal.com.
Prisoner Robert Stockmeier’s lawsuit contended corrections officials failed to report that the diet wasn’t healthy, failed to show standards for determining nutritional adequacy, including the recommended daily allowances and other standards set by the Food and Nutrition board of the National Academy of Medicine. The record indicates prisoners were served excessive levels of fat and sodium.
The jurists also rejected prison officials’ argument that sodium is a necessary nutrient and therefore higher levels of sodium do not render the prison diet inadequate. The ruling stated, “It is plain that a nutritionally adequate diet is not simply one that has some quantity of necessary macronutrients as many nutrients that are necessary in small quantities are dangerous in large quantities.”
Previous court orders required the state’s chief medical officer to report proper standards were followed. The justices ruled the state is not showing a standard was followed.
The court further ruled the chief medical officer did not comply with statutory reporting requirements and “failed to show that its reporting applied any standards in assessing nutritional adequacy.”
