Newfoundland and Labrador’s prison menu made the news in Toronto recently, thanks to an alleged biker boss.
John Neal is facing charges of conspiring to traffic in liquid ecstasy and contributing to a criminal organization. He is the purported president of the Toronto chapter of the Hells Angels.
In the days before his trial, his lawyer, Craig Bottomley, complained about the skimpy meals being served at the lockup. He planned on challenging the inadequacy.
That prompted The Toronto Star to compare lunches offered at jails throughout North America.
This province was in the mix and what it serves at the lockup during trials stood out enough for the reporter to lead off an Oct. 18 story with it.
“If you are going to be arrested,” Tracey Tyler wrote, “you’ll likely be healthier if it happens in Newfoundland. ... Consider, for example, the food.”
This province pays a lot more per meal than the Toronto Police Service — $5.89 a plate compared to $1.19.
As a result, the lunch menu here — which rotates and includes grilled salmon, roast beef and grilled chicken pitas — might be considered gourmet fare when put against what Toronto inmates are offered.
According to The Star, the lockup lunch in the Ontario capital is a sandwich (often cheese) and a glass of water mixed with flavoured crystals.
Vegetarians get a burger bun with a piece of lettuce and slice of tomato.
“I thought the days of bread and water were long gone,” quipped Felix Collins, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Justice minister, in an interview with The Telegram about the Toronto paper’s story.
It’s unlikely the prison system Collins oversees would have fared as well two years ago.
Changing the corrections menu was one of 77 recommendations in “Decades of Darkness, Moving Towards the Light,” the December 2008 report which examined problems in the province’s prison system.
It suggested adequate meals be provided to inmates at all times and that a wide variety of meals be available.
For a taste of the general menu at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary click here:
For the first week of the HMP’s general meal plan, visit... media/flying/844/HMPMenuWK1.pdf
For the second week of the HMP’s general meal plan, visit... media/flying/844/HMPMenuWk2.pdf
For the third week of the HMP’s general meal plan, visit...media/flying/844/HMPMenuWK3.pdf
For the fourth week of the HMP’s general meal plan, visit... media/flying/844/HMPMenuWK4.pdf
Collins said the province acted on that recommendation in January 2009, contracting a registered dietitian to help revamp the meal plan.
That resulted in five different menus — one for the general population as well as plans for diabetics, vegetarians, people trying to lower cholesterol and those who can only eat soft foods.
The same meals are served at the St. John’s lockup as at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary (HMP).
The Telegram obtained copies of the menus and found a wide array of appetizing options.
On Saturday night in Week 4 of the cycle, for example, an inmate eating regular meals at The Pen would dine on sweet and sour pork, wild rice, an egg roll, mixed vegetables, chicken noodle soup, dessert, fresh fruit, and two per cent milk.
That same evening, a diabetic and person trying to lower their cholesterol would get sweet and sour lean pork, wild rice, mixed veggies, frozen yogurt, and skim milk.
A vegetarian would eat sweet and sour lentil chop suey, wild rice, a vegetable egg roll, mixed vegetables, dessert, fresh fruit, and soy milk.
Someone who needs soft food would have sweet and sour shaved pork, noodles, mixed vegetables, frozen yogurt, fresh fruit and two per cent milk.
That’s just one supper in a four-week cycle.
Other meals include seafood linguine, shepherd’s pie with lean meat, grilled veggie and hummus sandwich, and frittatas.
Repeated attempts to speak with prisoners about the food were unsuccessful for a variety of reasons, including the lockdown in place at Her Majesty’s Penitentiary earlier this week.
Canon John Paul Westin of St. Thomas’ Anglican Church visits The Pen weekly to conduct a prison ministry.
He eats the food on occasion and noted the roast beef was pretty good on Thursday.
“I think it’s great and, as far as I know, the guys like it. That’s the feedback I get,” he said, admitting he didn’t know the menu had changed in the past year or so.
Cindy Murphy is executive director of the John Howard Society,
She actually doesn’t get a lot of feedback on the food, but she said that’s a good sign.
“Because over the years — and I’ve been around corrections for a long time — we’d hear a lot about the food at the penitentiary and other institutions,” she said, adding in the past she’d hear complaints about quality and quantity.
From the informal discussions she’s had, Murphy said she hears the meal plan is healthier and has more variety now.
“This makes a big difference ... being able to be eat properly,” she said.
Murphy said meals have a profound impact on an institution.
“Because there’s not a big lot to focus on when you’re in custody, and food, obviously, is important to all of us. And when it’s not adequate, or insufficient ,or just not healthy or appropriate, it causes a lot of consternation among the inmates themselves. There’s an awful lot of talk and kind of unrest, really. And we’re not hearing much, and that’s a good sign.”
Collins agreed, saying one of the positive spinoffs of the improved food is a smoother-functioning institution.
The minister said the response from inmates has been “very, very good.”
He noted the province has fully or partially implemented 73 of the 77 recommendations in Decades of Darkness.
“We’ve made major inroads in improving our corrections system,” he said.
“We still have a major problem with regards to infrastructure, as you well know. But in terms of programming and attending to the needs of staff and inmates, I think we’ve made great strides.”
Back in Toronto, Bottomley didn’t get a chance to raise the food issue in court before the Toronto Police Service told him he could bring Neal extra food.
The was a catch, The Star reported Oct. 19 — the lawyer had to provide it and Neal’s family had to foot the bill.
The first day of that arrangement saw Bottomley bring his client a turkey sandwich on brown bread, a butter tart and a chocolate milk.
Twitter: @bartlett_steve
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If I couldn't afford to feed my kids I wouldn't have had them. Bottom line. No excuse for not feeding kids a healthy diet.