New report finds privatized prison and jail food service falls short on nutrition, safety, and accountability

A new report released today by the Center for Science in the Public Interest and the Carceral Nutrition Project finds that privatized food service in US prisons and jails raises serious concerns about nutrition, food safety, and oversight.

The report, Private Food, Public Harm: Privatized Food Service in Prisons and Jails, draws on a review of more than 130 reports and articles, interviews with key informants, and an analysis of litigation to assess how outsourcing food service affects the health and well-being of incarcerated people, focusing on Aramark. According to one market analysis, Aramark has the largest share (35 percent) of the US correctional food services market. Among nearly 2 million people incarcerated in the United States, at least 400,000 are in the custody of state prisons that contract with Aramark for food service, and tens of thousands more reside in jails that contract with the company.

"Correctional agencies' decisions to outsource food service are typically driven by pressure to cut costs," said Jessi Silverman, a CSPI deputy director and registered dietitian. "It's unclear that privatizing food service truly cuts costs. Instead, most of the evidence indicates that it worsens quality and exacerbates harms."

Key Findings

• Meals fall short of dietary guidance. Aramark's and other private vendors' meals commonly fall short of key recommendations in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, with limited fruits and vegetables, and excessive sodium and refined carbohydrates like white bread.
• Insufficient portions and unpalatable meals contribute to hunger. Incarcerated people consistently report that Aramark's meals are inadequate in quantity and quality, leading many to rely on commissary purchases-if they have the means to do so. Even more problematic, when Aramark or another contractor provides both food service and commissary, it creates an incentive to reduce the quantity and quality of meals to drive commissary profits.
• Food safety risks are widespread. Allegations and documented cases of Aramark's food safety lapses include improper food storage, contaminated meals, and failure to maintain sanitary conditions. In surveys of people incarcerated in prisons and jails that contract with Aramark, an overwhelming majority report having been served spoiled or rotten foods.
• Privatization may exacerbate existing challenges. Evidence from multiple states suggests that transitioning from in-house to Aramark-managed food service is associated with declines in food quantity, quality, and safety.
• Barriers to accountability persist despite extensive litigation. More than 500 lawsuits filed against Aramark since 2000 reveal widespread allegations of nutritionally inadequate and unsafe food, as well as failure to meet medical or religious dietary requirements.

"While I was incarcerated in West Virginia, the transition from in-house food service to Aramark meant more highly processed food and fewer fruits and vegetables," said Teri Castle, co-author of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy's report, The High Costs of Cheap Food: Eating in West Virginia Prisons. "After years without access to fresh, nourishing foods, my health declined in ways that are common for many incarcerated women, including…chronic anemia, prediabetes, and high blood pressure. Conditions that build quietly but have lasting consequences."

"I lived through years of eating prison food prepared by Aramark, and what stood out to me was not only the lack of quality, it was the lack of real accountability behind it," said Alexis Smith, Founder and CEO of Finally Free Consultation. "The people preparing the food are not the only issue. It's the system where outside oversight, which would provide real consequences, does not exist. When there's no meaningful accountability, the quality reflects that. And over time, that turns into real health problems that follow people long after they are released."

CSPI, Carceral Nutrition Project, Corporate Accountability, Farm to Institution New England, The John Howard Association of Illinois, Return Strong! Nevada, West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, American Friends Service Committee - West Virginia, and DC Veg Week are calling on Aramark to meet 15 demands, including strengthening and consistently enforcing policies and procedures for nutrition, meal quality, and food safety in prisons and jails. The organizations will collect petition signatures until July 4. The petition also calls for greater transparency and accountability measures, such as publishing results of third-party audits of facilities managed by Aramark.

"I ate Aramark's food in the DC Department of Corrections for about a year, and also experienced state-run food service in Virginia prisons for several years," said Daniel Rosen, Executive Director of the Carceral Nutrition Project. "I don't think anyone feeds incarcerated people well, but everything in DC was heavily processed, empty starchy calories, mystery meals, unidentifiable 'meat' patties, nothing fresh, often served cold and congealed, and often spoiled. I watched someone uncover half a (dead) mouse in their entree. Most of Aramark's food ended up in the trash, because it was just inedible."

The organizations also call on policymakers and correctional agencies to:

• Establish and enforce evidence-based nutrition standards for prisons and jails
• Ensure sufficient funding to support safe and nutritious meals
• Generally avoid outsourcing food service if currently self-operated
• Strengthen oversight and accountability mechanisms for private vendors
• Avoid awarding food service and commissary contracts to vendors with the same parent company

"When Aramark took over food service in Nevada prisons, portions became-and remain-so inadequate that some people have reported making 'toilet paper tacos'-layers of toilet paper and toothpaste-just to stave off hunger," said Jodi Hocking, Executive Director of Return Strong. "The Department of Corrections must do a better job of holding Aramark accountable or return food service in-house."

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Topics

• Food Service

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