Man’s Inhumanity to Man, Texas-Style: No Weekend Lunch For Prisoners
How far do they have to go to offend the American people’s sensibilities? You will remember that Texas ended the practice of last meals for death-row inmates. Now no lunch on weekends:
Thousands of inmates in the Texas prison system have been eating fewer meals since April after officials stopped serving lunch on the weekends in some prisons as a way to cut food-service costs. About 23,000 inmates in 36 prisons are eating two meals a day on Saturdays and Sundays instead of three. A meal the system calls brunch is usually served between 5 and 7 a.m., followed by dinner between 4 and 6:30 p.m.
The meal reductions are part of an effort to trim $2.8 million in food-related expenses from the 2011 fiscal year budget of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice, the state prison agency. Other cuts the agency has made to its food service include replacing carton milk with powdered milk and using sliced bread instead of hamburger and hot dog buns.
Prison administrators said that the cuts were made in response to the state’s multibillion-dollar budget shortfall in 2011, and that the weekend lunches were eliminated in consultation with the agency’s health officials and dietitians.
Yes, and we remember that German doctors oversaw human experiments in concentration camps. And American lawyers redefined torture. Despicable. And more common than you might think:
Ohio and Arizona serve two meals per day on the weekends to reduce food-service costs. Georgia serves two meals per day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, though inmates on work details receive a third meal.
Southern Democrats, true to form:
State Senator John Whitmire, a Democrat and chairman of the Senate Criminal Justice Committee whose outrage over last meals on death row led to the end of the practice last month, said the reductions were not a major concern to him. “If they don’t like the menu,” he said, “don’t come there in the first place.”
10 Responses to “Man’s Inhumanity to Man, Texas-Style: No Weekend Lunch For Prisoners”
If I lived in a rape factory getting no lunch on weekends would be pretty near the bottom of my list of concerns. Its odd what we choose to focus on.
malcontent, the rules of civility here at tmv are no attacking writers, or commenters. Discuss the issues and all will be well. Read the Commenters Rules at the top of the home page of TMV: it’s all laid out there. Thanks.
we are not a third world country and should not set our bar that low.
sometimes I wonder if Texas would feel more comfortable in the middle east.
@SL
What makes you think we are not becoming a third world country for the 99%. Even these lunches are nothing but stale baloney. Maybe the next step is to buy waste (dumpster trash) from Mc D’s.
When I lived in Austin back in the early seventies it was a wonderful and creative place, the people friendly, progressive, and very sane. Clearly something horrible has been growing in TX in the intervening decades.
Well if we passed another round of tax cuts for the job creators there would be no crime and everyone would live happily ever after.
JSpencer says:
“When I lived in Austin back in the early seventies it was a wonderful and creative place, the people friendly, progressive, and very sane. Clearly something horrible has been growing in TX in the intervening decades.”
JS:
While I can’t vouch for the rest of Texas, Austin is still a great place to live, notwithstanding that a certain governor lives and holds court here
no doubt criminals get what they deserve but even dogs at the pound get fed well.when is enough enough?
SL I’ve often thought the right would be really happy in the middle east. They have school prayer, no gun control, abortion is illegal, really big on border control, teaches abstinence only for teenagers, hate gay people, they have a lot in common.
“While I can’t vouch for the rest of Texas, Austin is still a great place to live”
Glad to hear it Dorian!