Nutraloaf
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Nutraloaf, sometimes called prison loaf, confinement loaf, or special management meal¹, is a food served in United States prisons to inmates who have demonstrated significant behavioral issues.² It is similar to meatloaf in texture, but has a wider variety of ingredients. Prisoners may be served nutraloaf if they have assaulted prison guards or fellow prisoners with sharpened utensils. Prison loaf is usually exceedingly bland in taste, perhaps even unpleasant, but prison wardens argue that nutraloaf provides enough nutrition to keep prisoners healthy without requiring utensils to be issued.³

Preparation

There are many different recipes which include a range of food, from vegetables, fruit, meat, and bread or other grains. Some versions may be vegetarian or completely vegan. The ingredients are blended and baked into a solid loaf form. In some institutions it has no fixed recipe but is simply the regular prison meal (including drink) blended together. In one common version, it is made from a mixture of wheat bread, non-dairy cheese, various vegetables, and mixed with vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk and dehydrated potato flakes. Prisoners do not need utensils to eat it, and it is generally served on a piece of paper, rather than a tray.

Legal challenges

Although prison loaf has been employed in many United States prisons, its use is somewhat controversial. The standards of the American Correctional Association, which accredits prisons, discourage the use of food as a disciplinary measure, but adherence to the organization's food standards is voluntary.⁴⁵ Denying inmates food as punishment has been found to be unconstitutional by the courts⁶, but because the loaf is generally nutritionally complete, it is sometimes justified as a "dietary adjustment" rather than a denial of proper meals.⁴

Lawsuits have taken place in several states regarding nutraloaf, including Illinois⁷, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia.² In March 2008, prisoners brought their case before the Vermont Supreme Court, arguing that, since Vermont state law does not allow food to be used as punishment, nutraloaf must be removed from the menu.⁸ Vermont's version of nutraloaf has 966 calories per serving.

References

External links

• Clark County jail's recipe
• The Onion AV Club's Taste Test NutriLoaf, based on the recipe in a recent court case.¹
• "Loaf Without Parole". Slate.com (2002-12-23). Contains a recipe for "the Loaf".
• Taste Testing Nutraloaf, Can prison food that just might be unconstitutional bad