Introduction

Too often in prison, food becomes an additional form of punishment—one whose negative impacts on physical health, mental well-being, and sense of human dignity last long after a sentence has been served. Impact Justice’s Food in Prison Project spent 18 months investigating the experience and impacts of eating in confinement, as well as what we stand to gain from rethinking the standard approach to prison food.

Methods

We center the voices of those who have experienced incarceration and their loved ones through interviews, focus groups, and surveys. We also conducted site visits and interviews with correctional staff and leadership, in concert with a systematic review of food-related policies at state correctional agencies across the nation. Our data collection was supplemented by a cross-disciplinary literature review and consultations with a multi-disciplinary array of experts.

Results

The prison food experience has immediate and long-term consequences on physical, mental, and social health—not only for individuals who have experienced incarceration, but also for families, communities, and our society as a whole. The current approach incentivizes the sacrifice of people’s health in favor of the lowest cost and highest efficiency, disproportionately affecting BIPOC already impacted by food apartheid.

Discussion

We bring to light evidence that the current approach to prison food serves to bolster health inequity and perpetuate harm, further disrupting the social fabric. We discuss how transforming food in prison could improve health outcomes and restore human dignity—a stepping stone toward safer communities and ending reliance on an inhumane and racist carceral system.

Introduction:

Black, Indigenous, and Latinx communities are disproportionately affected by incarceration as well as inequitable access to healthy food and related chronic diseases. Despite this, correctional facilities have largely been left out of policy efforts to create a healthier food environment. Optimizing food and nutrition in correctional facilities is a potential strategy to advance health equity.

Approach:

The ad-hoc 2020 Correctional Facility Food Service Guidelines Special Project Workgroup

convened to gather information and identify equity-focused best practices needed to optimize nutrition in adult and youth correctional facilities through food service guidelines.

Results:

From our information-gathering activities, we learned that there is no one uniform approach to food service in corrections. Policies, operations, and accountability vary significantly across federal, state, and local corrections agencies, and between adult and youth facilities. Despite this heterogeneity, the Workgroup’s discussion consistently revealed that there is an urgent need to raise standards (and then meet them) for health, palatability, and dignity in correctional facility food service, particularly when centering the perspective of people who have been incarcerated. Several jurisdictions have undertaken efforts to adopt food service guidelines, menus, or other practices that improve nutritional quality in prisons, jails, or juvenile detention facilities.

Discussion:

After synthesizing insights regarding the existing landscape of policies and practices, opportunities for improvement, and evolving best practices, we developed policy and practice recommendations for advocates, policymakers, and funders to pursue, as well as research questions for future projects.

Introduction: Despite high rates of incarceration in the United States and strong evidence about its impact on health, the relationship between diet and incarceration has received limited attention.

Methods: From 2018-2021, we conducted a scoping review to systematically map the research exploring relationships between justice-involvement/incarceration and diet-related experiences including dietary behaviors, food insecurity, and food access. The review was informed by the guidelines outlined in the PRISMA extension for scoping reviews. Peer reviewed articles (n=75) published from 1980-2020, written in English, involved human participants, environmental audits, or menu analysis, and conducted in the United States, Canada, the UK, or Australia were included in the review.

Results: The review found that incarceration was related to significant dietary disadvantage among adults and youth who are incarcerated and their families. Studies were categorized based on their time relative to incarceration including: Prior to incarceration (poor diet and food insecurity risk factors for incarceration by contributing to delinquency and trauma); During incarceration (poor healthy food availability in correctional facilities and the role of parental incarceration on food insecurity in families); and After incarceration (the role of incarceration in increasing the risk of food insecurity and poor diet-related health outcomes). The review also included findings from studies that target interventions during each period including interventions to improve dietary and food choice behaviors among people who are incarcerated and dietary supplementation to improve self-control and cognitive function in youth.

Discussion: Gaps in knowledge and implications for public health research, practice, and policy will be discussed

Introduction

Correctional agencies spend millions annually on food yet provide substandard food experiences that contribute to poor health. Limited evidence suggests that increased procurement and provision of locally grown produce can enhance physical and mental health for people incarcerated while benefiting local food systems. Better understanding of the facilitators and barriers to expanding local produce in correctional agencies is needed.

Methods

In winter 2021, we conducted a document review of state-level food purchasing policies and practices in 12 states to understand the current procurement landscape. We interviewed ten national stakeholders involved in policy and programmatic efforts to procure and serve local, fresh produce in correctional facilities. Finally, we interviewed stakeholders in California to understand the opportunities and challenges of replicating successful efforts in the state.

Results

Some states have policies encouraging or requiring state agencies (including correctional departments) to purchase state-grown produce, but they are challenging to operationalize given complex purchasing requirements and practices. National interviewees described multiple facilitators and barriers to providing more local produce in correctional agencies, including the importance of building relationships, the role of policy, importance of patience, and the challenges of competing values, priorities, and bureaucratic systems. Motivations for food improvement initiatives included advancing sustainability goals, stimulating local economies, and upholding human rights.

Discussion

Improving prison food has the potential to address human and environmental health simultaneously, advancing food justice for people in the carceral system. More work is needed to improve food in corrections agencies; understanding prior successes and challenges can facilitate progress.