We are commonly fed the lowest quality food available, often served nearly inedible leftovers, like re-heated oatmeal that has the texture of slimy and lumpy paste, or barely recognizable vegetables that have been reheated multiple times. We're served some version of potatoes with so many meals that some days we have them with all three meals. Some meals are so full of carbs that anyone trying to reduce carbs would have nothing to eat. It's no wonder the prison population has an alarmingly high rate of diabetes.
In a recent MI-Cure newsletter (August, 2025, www.mi-cure.com), an article highlighted an Mlive.com news story about nursing home food costs. The story found that based on 2023 data, half of all nursing homes in the country spent less than $12.03 per day for three meals for each resident. More than a quarter spent less than $10. A Harvard professor of health care policy called that amount "appallingly low," claiming, "You can't feed anyone on less than $10 a day." (Kalamazoo Gazette, June 1, 2024)
I would agree, but the MDOC has these nursing homes beat...by a long shot!
According to the MDOC's report to the Michigan legislature, during a similar time period, it fed Michigan's prisoners at the average cost of $2.38 per meal, or $7.14 per day--and that's without serving us Jell-O. Prisoners are far more active than nursing home residents, too!
To trim its budget without making much needed sentencing reforms that would further reduce the prison population, the MDOC has cut corners in all the wrong places. Eliminating fresh vegetables (we get carrot and celery sticks once every other week), choosing the lowest quality food available, and focusing on inexpensive carbohydrates, the department has made cheap food costs an art form. Yet, the State is paying for this food cost reduction in higher health care costs in the long run.
Prisons ought not to be places of luxury, for sure. We are, after all, being punished for our crimes. But the State also has a responsibility to feed us foods that are nutritious and fit for human consumption. We shouldn't have to avoid eating what few vegetables we get because they have been cooked to beyond recognition or because they are animal feed quality. We also shouldn't have to fill up on carbs simply because there are no other options.
Neither nursing home residents nor prisoners should be forced to survive off of despicably low quality food. If the State can afford to spend millions of dollars on x-ray machines to scan prisoners leaving visits, when that does nothing to slow the influx of drugs into prison, it can afford to buy higher quality food. And while it's at it, why doesn't the department fire the so called "nutritionist" who approves our food menu? They should be ashamed of themselves for using that title! What's nutritious about a $7.14 per day diet?
