Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Cutting the bread (and the fat) in City budget

From the NY Post:

With the economy still in critical condition and no cure in site, Mayor Bloomberg released an austere election-year budget...that cuts even the bread allocation to inmates on Rikers Island.

To save $400,000, the Correction Department is reducing the number of bread slices each inmate receives each day from 12 to eight.

One city official said the measure was designed not just to reduce the agency's budget but also inmates' waistlines.

"Who else eats a dozen slices of bread a day?" the official asked.


Yeah, I was wondering that myself...

29 comments:

Anonymous said...

12 slices? I say we give them none. I can't see anybody eating 12 or even 8 slices a day. it amazes me how this city spends our tax dollars.

Anonymous said...

If they give them that much bread it is in place of more expensive foods. Prisoners in Rikers have not been convicted of anything yet and some of them may actually be innocent.

That is why they are not treated as stringently as those actually in prisons, Rikers is a Jail.

Anonymous said...

Sorry, but people in jail eat better than many people out on the street.

Anonymous said...

And some eat a lot worse, but that's neither here nor there since they haven't been convicted of anything yet.

In fact, you can be a murderer, a rapist, a child molester and sit in front of your big-screen TV in a beautiful mansion awaiting trial so long as you have the money for bail.

Many poor people are sitting in cells for minor things like fistfights.

Anonymous said...

And this has nothing to do with how many bread slices a person should eat or how many we should be paying for.

Anonymous said...

An aristocratic "Marie" once proclaimed, "Let them eat cake"!

Bloomberg has already taken the bread from the mouths of ALL US CITIZENS by raising taxes to an astronomical level just so his wealthy buddies could continue to live off us "subjects" in royal fashion!

Do we need 4 more years of an oppressive Napoleonic mayor?

NO, NO, NO...VOTE THE BASTARD OUT!

Anonymous said...

It does matter because you are literally taking the food from people's mouths. Presumably some sort of nutritional analysis went into the guidelines in the first place.

After all, we are not running concentration camps. I find it very hard to believe that you can remove several hundred calories from someone's diet without risking harm.

Clearly the bread was a substitute for something more expensive in the first place, just like many poor people balloon up because they can't afford more nutritious choices. The city may save a lot of money at the risk of riots and lawsuits.

Anonymous said...

Another avenue to travel down would be to see if there are "pork" sandwiches. This post made me wonder if there is any profiteering by the companies that supply the prisons with food and other supplies. Will any of Bloomturd's friends (as if he really has any)be hurt by a cutback? Just wondering.

Anonymous said...

Breakfast
Scoop of porridge, cereal, or grits, or small cereal packet. One third of a cup of coffee, a half pint of milk, 2 packets of sugar. Apple, orange or banana included sometimes.

Lunch
Two hamburger patties, three slices of bread, scoop of potatoes. Cup of juice.

Dinner
Scoop of oxtail, beef, or chili stew or chicken patty. Scoop of green beans. Cup of juice.

Anonymous said...

You won't see any of these because of the labor involved to prepare them. The bread is used because prisoners are fed cheap cold-cuts as often as possible. I have family who work for corrections so I have firsthand knowledge.

Anonymous said...

Some of them have been convicted of misdemeanors, like forcible touching, and are serving their sentences at Rikers.

Anonymous said...

The menu posted was taken off the blog of someone who claimed to have served time at Rikers.

Wade Nichols said...

the Correction Department is reducing the number of bread slices each inmate receives each day from 12 to eight.The article didn't mention that they are also considering reducing the prisoners ration of 8 liters of Evian water per day to 6 liters.

I'm not sure if they are going to cut their time in the weight room from 4 hours to 3, or whether their cable TV time will get reduced from 8 hours/day to 6 hours. I'll look into this, and report back what I find.

After all, we are not running concentration camps. I find it very hard to believe that you can remove several hundred calories from someone's diet without risking harm.


Sacre bleu! Perhaps the prisoners should be fed arugula from Whole Foods? They would be eating much like President Obama, a man who, presumably, most of the prisoners probably voted for!

How about adding some brie and risotto? Maybe a glass of wine also, we don't want prisoners with unhealthy hearts!

Linda said...

LMAO, who cares what the hell they feed them. if your in jail most likely you deserve to be there. I don't believe that most of them are there by mistake.

Nigel Parry said...

The assumptions in the comments that people deserve to be in jail (most of Rikers inmates are pre-trial detainees) are pretty offensive. You know, that whole pesky innocent til proven guilty thing.

The assumptions in the comments that it's okay to starve people who you have isolated people from society, is not that different from the rendition/Abu Ghraib thing that Americans apparently do as second nature.

Finally, the start assumption that prisoners are getting 12 pieces of bread a day is utterly wrong.

People are not getting 12 slices of bread a day on Rikers Island. They are being given a near-starvation level amount of food that wouldn't pass any nutrition test.

Here is an example daily menu on Rikers Island from a month of bitter personal experience that ended with no criminal record:

Breakfast
Scoop of porridge, cereal, or grits, or small cereal packet. One third of a cup of bad coffee, a half pint of milk, 2 packets of sugar. Apple, orange or banana included sometimes.

Lunch
Two vile hamburger patties, three slices of stale bread, scoop of partially cooked potatoes. Most likely some or all parts of the meal are cold. Cup of flavored juice-like product.

Dinner
Scoop of oxtail, beef, or chili stew or chicken patty. Or more hamburger patties. Scoop of tinned green beans. Most likely some or all parts of the meal are cold. Cup of flavored juice-like product.

So what are you saying? It's good that Bloomberg further violates the human rights of prisoners under his care?

Great, that's why we elect public officials, to run Abu Ghraibs in the East River.

Here's the whole story. Give prisoners your respect instead of this white toothed American armchair fascism. They're mostly nonviolent, poor, black or Latino, drug offenders.

The prison system is bullshit, do some reading instead of spewing. Like Bruce Cockburn sang, "Everyone likes to see justice done on somebody else":

http://nigelparry.com/from-ramallah-to-rikers-island/

Nigel Parry said...

And what's particularly lame is "Anonymous" above who reposted my sample daily menu from Rikers, yet edited it to remove all the adjectives like "stale" or "bad" or "juice-like product".

Dude, don't do the historical revisionist thing. If you're going to quote something, do it properly, learn to post a source link, and sign it with your name so you own it in public.

Anonymous said...

More to the point: 4 slices of toast for breakfast, 2 sandwiches at lunch, 2 sandwiches at dinner, equals 12 slices of bread.

You don't eat 12 slices of bread? Maybe because you have a filling hot meal or two instead of cold cut sandwiches. Furthermore, these are mostly teenagers and young men with fast metabolisms. I have no doubt that the ex-prisoner who posted the menu was probably starving and cranky prisoners can't be good for the safety of the guards.

Linda said...

not all are waiting for a hearing and most are waiting to be sent upstate. and i'm entitled to my opinion, hey if ya do the crime do the time!

Anonymous said...

jail: not supposed to be pleasant...

Nigel Parry said...

Are you not even reading? 3 slices a day. There's nothing close to 8 never mind 12 and it's all stale.

If you're that happy to ditch the innocent before proven guilty thing and make the case for jail having to be bad, I'd advise you to read the link I posted.

Because on the day it happens to you, and don't imagine life circumstances can't combine so that you'll never be put there. And at that point, your 3 slices of bread look a whole lot different than any other 3 slices of bread you've seen in your life.

And when you get out, you look at people like you, a whole lot different than you ever saw them in your life. Jail is tearing apart community. It is bringing stuff to a boil. America is heading for a national LA riots, and it's because you can't stop doing the slave thing.

No criminal record at the end of it. You hearing me? Yet still, all this bullshit had to happen. Like I said, read. You're not going to tell me you read 8,000 words and footnotes in the half hour it took you to reply.

http://nigelparry.com/from-ramallah-to-rikers-island/

Anonymous said...

hey at least i would lose some weight! and buddy why do you care so much? who gives a flying rats ass what they're feed. most of rikers are gang members waiting to be sent upstate for murder or drugs.

Anonymous said...

Bernie Madoff never had to worry about losing a pound.

Anonymous said...

Yeah ,but when they are released they get a food card,welfare(in some cases) and a section 8 stipend for an apt.

Anonymous said...

Mutts convcited of misdemeanors (read,a feloy that is reduced)do their time at Rikers,not everyone is awaiying a hearing.........

Anonymous said...

Building on Your Head party highly endorses this innovative plan to reduce food rations to the undesirables.

This will ensure that the incarcerations that will be inevitable when the riff-raff riot after being hit by flying buildings, having their homes destroyed by collapsing buildings, having their workplaces shut down by collapsing stairwells, being trapped behind collapsing building facades and so forth will be as economical as possible.

Vote Ceiling on Your Head Party for savings!

Anonymous said...

There used to be a fast food diner chain called "Rikers" in the 50s.

Anonymous said...

Bread fattens up those butt cheeks...makes for more "fun" in the inmate's shower room (heh, heh, heh)!

faster340 said...

"They would be eating much like President Obama,"

Believe it or not, the president pays for his own expenses out of his $400,000 annual salary, including food, drinks, and dry cleaning. The president (Obama at present) is presented with a weekly menu, and they buy the groceries. ( uncle sam grabs the tab for official dinners.) Conversely, there is a fully stocked kitchen in the family quarters, and the family can also order take out.

faster340 said...

They should add up how much food an inmate gets/eats and then give them a bill when they leave and/or garnish any money they get after leaving to pay for the food. They do the crime and we pay for it is wrong!