Behind bars: Evaluating the nutritional landscape — A review of dietary patterns provided in correctional facilities

Cover Page

Cite item

Full Text

Abstract

The quality of nutrition in correctional facilities plays a crucial role in the health of incarcerated individuals. This review investigates dietary patterns within these institutions, examining their nutritional adequacy and compliance with established guidelines. The review aims to assess the nutritional content of meals provided in correctional settings and their impact on inmate health. A systematic literature review was conducted, analyzing studies that evaluate meal composition, adherence to nutritional standards, and associated health outcomes for inmates. Data was synthesized from diverse correctional facilities to highlight common trends and disparities. Findings reveal pervasive nutritional deficiencies across correctional facilities. Many meals lack adequate fresh fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, relying heavily on processed foods high in sodium and sugar. Such imbalances can lead to significant health issues, including obesity, hypertension, and metabolic disorders among the incarcerated population. The review also highlights disparities based on facility types, geographic locations, and budgetary constraints, which influence the nutritional quality of meals. Addressing the nutritional deficiencies in correctional facilities is imperative for improving inmate health and facilitating rehabilitation. Implementing comprehensive meal planning, increasing access to fresh produce, and ensuring adherence to nutritional standards can enhance the dietary landscape in these settings. Future research should focus on effective interventions and policies aimed at improving nutritional offerings to support the health and well-being of incarcerated individuals.

About the authors

K. Sanjeet

Department of Food and Nutrition, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University

Author for correspondence.
Email: sanjeetkuril876@gmail.com
Kuril Sanjeet is affiliated with the Department of Food and Nutrition at Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University, focusing on nutritional adequacy and dietary patterns in correctional facilities. Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, Lucknow — 226025, Uttar Pradesh

S. Mishra

Department of Food and Nutrition, Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar University

Email: sanjeetkuril876@gmail.com
Vidya Vihar, Raebareli Road, Lucknow — 226025, Uttar Pradesh

References

  1. Fakhry, Y. (2022). A review of health and nutrition in prisons: A challenge between human rights conventions, nutrition guidelines and health policies. Crossing Conceptual Boundaries, 12(1), 36–53. https://doi.org/10.15123/uel.8v200
  2. Vetrani, C., Verde, L., Ambretti, A., Muscogiuri, G., Pagano, A. M., Lucania, L. et al. (2024). Nutritional interventions in prison settings: A scoping review. Nutrition Reviews, 83(2), 397–404. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuae011 (Online ahead of print)
  3. Hannan-Jones, M., Capra, S. (2016). What do prisoners eat? Nutrient intakes and food practices in a high-secure prison. British Journal of Nutrition, 115(8), 1387–1396. https://doi.org/10.1017/s000711451600026x
  4. Camplin, E. (2016). Prison food in America. Rowman and Littlefield. Publishers, 2016.
  5. Cook, E. A., Lee, Y. M., White, B. D., Gropper, S. S. (2015). The diet of inmates: An analysis of a 28-day cycle menu used in a large county jail in the state of Georgia. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 21(4), 390–399. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078345815600160
  6. Hattori, T. Y., de Oliveira Silva, E., do Nascimento, V. F., Atanaka, M., Trettel, A. C. P. T. (2020). Risk factors influencing food habits of overweight and obese incarcerated women. ABCS Health Sciences, 45, Article e020020. https://doi.org/10.7322/abcshs.45.2020.1366
  7. Wondimu, M., Siyoum, A., Ketema, I., Goshu, A. T., Habte, S., Mehadi, A. et al. (2023). Undernutrition and associated factors among adult prisoners in Fiche town, central Ethiopia: A facility-based cross-sectional study. Frontiers in Nutrition, 10, Article 1144654. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnut.2023.1144654
  8. Chan, A., Nathanson, A. (2020). “Not for human consumption": Prison food's absent regulation regime. William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal, 29(4), Article 3.
  9. Vanhouche, A. S. (2022). Prison food: Philosophy and practice. Chapter in a book: Prison Food. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham, 2022. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-96125-1_7
  10. Qadir, M., Murad, R., Qadir, A., Mubeen, S. M. (2017). Prisoners in Karachi-A health and nutritional perspective. Annals Abbasi Shaheed Hospital and Karachi Medical and Dental College, 19(2), 67–72.
  11. Wouk, K., Piggott, J., Towner Wright, S., Palmquist, A. E., Knittel, A. (2022). Lactation support for people who are incarcerated: A systematic review. Breastfeeding Medicine, 17(11), 891–925. https://doi.org/10.1089/bfm.2022.0138
  12. Stott, G. N. (2020). Design and Implementation of a Nutrition Education Program at the Strafford County Department of Corrections. Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) Student Presentations. University of New Hampshire, Durham, 2020.
  13. Thomas, A. (2022). Developing an evidence-based nutrition curriculum for correctional settings. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 28(2), 117–128. https://doi.org/10.1089/jchc.20.04.0028
  14. Slingerland, I. (2023). Keep it fresh: Improving access to fresh produce in New York State Correctional Facilities — A pilot program at sing sing correctional facility (Doctoral dissertation, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University). https://doi.org/10.7916/jmjq-wq58
  15. Smoyer, A. B. (2019). Food in correctional facilities: A scoping review. Appetite, 141, Article 104312. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2019.06.004
  16. O’Conner-Von, S., Shlafer, R., Galchutt, P., Kettering, S., Bouterse, A., Freese, R. et al. (2024). A Survey of state correctional health care providers on advance care planning: Opportunity for collaboration with corrections. American Journal of Hospice and Palliative Medicine, 41(9), 1051–1057. https://doi.org/10.1177/10499091241226638
  17. Thoms, U. (2020). The technopolitics of food: The case of German prison food from the late eighteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Osiris, 35(1), 162–182. http://doi.org/10.1086/709895
  18. Bangura, S. A. (2022). Food Availability and Sanitation Conditions in Pademba Road Prisons, a Case Study. Walden University, 2022.
  19. Shlafer, R. J., Hardeman, R. R., Carlson, E. A. (2019). Reproductive justice for incarcerated mothers and advocacy for their infants and young children. Infant Mental Health Journal, 40(5), 725–741. https://doi.org/10.1002/imhj.21810
  20. Wanyama, S. (2021). Nutritional status and associated factors among inmates at Fort Portal prison Kabarole district, Uganda (Doctoral dissertation, Makerere University). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10570/8903 Accessed May 21, 2024
  21. McKeithen, W. (2020). Life in prison: Biopolitics, ill-being, and the neoliberal penitentiary (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/1773/45503 Accessed May 21, 2024
  22. Douds, A. S., Ahlin, E. M., Fiori, N. S., Barrish, N. J. (2020). Why prison dental care matters: Legal, policy, and practical concerns. Annals of Health Law and Life Sciences: The Health Policy and Law Review of Loyola University Chicago School of Law, 29(2), 101–126.
  23. Kochajda, M. A. (2019). An Evidence-Based Toolkit for Early Identification of Frail Inmates. Grand Valley State University, 2019.
  24. Marieke, T. (2017). Nutrition related health status and associated factors in juvenile male and female on remand detainees at entry into Pollsmoor correctional service facility in the Western Cape. (Doctoral dissertation). https://doi.org/10.25375/uct.8229557.v1
  25. Nowicki, G. J., Polak, M., Ślusarska, B., Czernecki, K. (2023). The relationship between diet and the occurrence of depressive symptoms in a community example with high rates of social deprivation: A cross-sectional study. Nutrients, 15(17), Article 3778. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu15173778
  26. Kraak, V. I. (2022). Perspective: Unpacking the wicked challenges for alternative proteins in the United States: Can highly processed plant-based and cell cultured food and beverage products support healthy and sustainable diets and food systems? Advances in Nutrition, 13(1), 38–47. https://doi.org/10.1093/advances/nmab113
  27. Choudhry, K., Armstrong, D., Dregan, A. (2019). Prisons and embodiment: Selfmanagement strategies of an incarcerated population. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 25(4), 338–350. http://doi.org/10.1177/1078345819880240
  28. Reese, A. M., Sbicca, J. (2022). Food and carcerality: From confinement to abolition. Food and Foodways, 30(1–2), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/07409710.2022.2030931
  29. Kendig, N. E., Butkus, R., Mathew, S., Hilden, D., Mathew, S., Hilden, D. (2022). Health care during incarceration: A policy position paper from the American College of Physicians. Annals of Internal Medicine, 175(12), 1742–1745. https://doi.org/10.7326/m22-2370
  30. De Coninck, G., Okenge Ngongo, L., Ilunga Ilunga, F., Albert, A., Giet, D. (2020). Nutritional status of inmates in the central prison of Mbuji-Mayi, Democratic Republic of Congo. Retrieved from https://hdl.handle.net/2268/250719 Accessed June 06, 2024
  31. Robinson-Doyle, L. (2021, October). Food Justice for Incarcerated Populations. APHA 2021 Annual Meeting and Expo. Retrieved from https://apha.confex.com/apha/2021/meetingapi.cgi/Session/63818?filename=2021_Session63818.html&template=Word Accessed June 06, 2024
  32. Topp, S. M., Moonga, C. N., Luo, N., Kaingu, M., Chileshe, C., Magwende, G. et al. (2017). Mapping the Zambian prison health system: An analysis of key structural determinants. Global Public Health, 12(7), 858–875. https://doi.org/10.1080/17441692.2016.1202298
  33. Wilson, A. (2023). Unpacking the prison food paradox: Formerly incarcerated individuals’ experience of food within federal prisons in Canada. Studies in Social Justice, 17(2), 280–305. https://doi.org/10.26522/ssj.v17i2.4028
  34. Wangmo, T., Handtke, V., Bretschneider, W., Elger, B. S. (2018). Improving the health of older prisoners: Nutrition and exercise in correctional institutions. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 24(4), 352–364. https://doi.org/10.1177/1078345818793121
  35. Shlafer, R. J., Gerrity, E., Norris, C., Freeman-Cook, R., Sufrin, C. B. (2022). Justice for incarcerated moms act of 2021: Reflections and recommendations. Women's Health, 18, Article 17455057221093037. https://doi.org/10.1177/17455057221093037
  36. Maes, E., Vanhouche, A. -S., Scholliers, P., Beyens, K. (2017). A vehicle of punishment? Prison diets in Belgium circa 1900. Food, Culture and Society, 20(1), 77–100. https://doi.org/10.1080/15528014.2016.1272203
  37. Waliczek, T.M., Zajicek, J.M. (2021). Prison horticulture. Chapter in a book: Urban horticulture. CRC Press, 2021
  38. Shavit, S., Aminawung, J. A., Birnbaum, N., Greenberg, S., Berthold, T., Fishman, A. et al. (2017). Transitions clinic network: Challenges and lessons in primary care for people released from prison. Health Affairs, 36(6), 1006–1015. https://doi.org/10.1377/hlthaff.2017.0089
  39. Everhardt, S. L., Jauk-Ajamie, D., Carmody, S. B., Gill, B. I. (2024). History of Food Justice in the USA and the Rockpile Program as a Food Justice Initiative. Chapter in a book: Gardening Behind Bars: Clinical Sociology and Food Justice in Incarcerated Settings. Springer, Cham, 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-49685-1_2
  40. Tadesse, A. D., Anto, T. G., Birhanu, M. Y., Agedew, E., Yimer, B., Abejie, A. N. (2023). Prevalence of undernutrition and its associated factors among older adults using mini nutritional assessment tool in Womberma district, West Gojjam Zone, Amhara Region, North West Ethiopia, 2020. PLoS ONE, 18(2), Article e0274557. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0274557
  41. Turney, K., Wildeman, C. (2015). Detrimental for some? Heterogeneous effects of maternal incarceration on child wellbeing. Criminology and Public Policy, 14(1), 125–156. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12109
  42. LeBlanc, C. P., Johnson, C., Goguen, P., Gagnon, S. (2024). The nutritional content of food in carceral institutions: A systematic review of quantitative studies. Journal of Correctional Health Care, 30(5), 302–310. https://doi.org/10.1089/jchc.23.10.0087
  43. Elger, B. S. (2017). A balanced diet–from facts to solutions. Chapter in a book: Emerging Issues in Prison Health. Springer, Dordrecht, 2017. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-7558-8_7
  44. Smoyer, A. B., Minke, L. K. (2016). Food systems in correctional settings: A literature review and case study. World Health Organization. Regional Office for Europe, 2016.
  45. Davison, K. M., D’Andreamatteo, C., Smye, V. L. (2019). Medical nutrition therapy in Canadian federal correctional facilities. BMC Health Services Research, 19, Article 89. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-019-3926-3
  46. Rosewarne, E. (2023). Evaluations of nutrition policy and advocacy to improve the food environment in Australia (Doctoral dissertation, UNSW Sydney). https://doi.org/10.26190/unsworks/24630
  47. Francis, J., Mildon, A., Stewart, S., Underhill, B., Ismail, S., Di Ruggiero, E. et al. (2021). Breastfeeding rates are high in a prenatal community support program targeting vulnerable women and offering enhanced postnatal lactation support: A prospective cohort study. International Journal for Equity in Health, 20, Article 71. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-021-01386-6
  48. Hinck, E. A., Hinck, S. S., Howell, A. (2019). Toward achieving the unthinkable: Transforming conversations about criminalized others through service-learning in correctional facilities. Review of Communication, 19(1), 19–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/15358593.2018.1554822
  49. Stott, G. N. (2020). Design and implementation of a nutrition education program at the Strafford County department of corrections. Undergraduate Research Conference (URC) Student Presentations. Retrieved from https://scholars.unh.edu/urc/458/?utm_source=scholars.unh.edu%2Furc%2F458&utm_medium=PDF&utm_campaign=PDFCoverPages Accessed June 06, 2024
  50. Andvig, E., Koffeld-Hamidane, S., Ausland, L. H., Karlsson, B. (2021). Inmates’ perceptions and experiences of how they were prepared for release from a Norwegian open prison. Nordic Journal of Criminology, 22(2), 203–220. https://doi.org/10.1080/2578983X.2020.1847954

Supplementary files

Supplementary Files
Action
1. JATS XML
Download

Copyright (c) 2024 Sanjeet K., Mishra S.

Согласие на обработку персональных данных с помощью сервиса «Яндекс.Метрика»

1. Я (далее – «Пользователь» или «Субъект персональных данных»), осуществляя использование сайта https://journals.rcsi.science/ (далее – «Сайт»), подтверждая свою полную дееспособность даю согласие на обработку персональных данных с использованием средств автоматизации Оператору - федеральному государственному бюджетному учреждению «Российский центр научной информации» (РЦНИ), далее – «Оператор», расположенному по адресу: 119991, г. Москва, Ленинский просп., д.32А, со следующими условиями.

2. Категории обрабатываемых данных: файлы «cookies» (куки-файлы). Файлы «cookie» – это небольшой текстовый файл, который веб-сервер может хранить в браузере Пользователя. Данные файлы веб-сервер загружает на устройство Пользователя при посещении им Сайта. При каждом следующем посещении Пользователем Сайта «cookie» файлы отправляются на Сайт Оператора. Данные файлы позволяют Сайту распознавать устройство Пользователя. Содержимое такого файла может как относиться, так и не относиться к персональным данным, в зависимости от того, содержит ли такой файл персональные данные или содержит обезличенные технические данные.

3. Цель обработки персональных данных: анализ пользовательской активности с помощью сервиса «Яндекс.Метрика».

4. Категории субъектов персональных данных: все Пользователи Сайта, которые дали согласие на обработку файлов «cookie».

5. Способы обработки: сбор, запись, систематизация, накопление, хранение, уточнение (обновление, изменение), извлечение, использование, передача (доступ, предоставление), блокирование, удаление, уничтожение персональных данных.

6. Срок обработки и хранения: до получения от Субъекта персональных данных требования о прекращении обработки/отзыва согласия.

7. Способ отзыва: заявление об отзыве в письменном виде путём его направления на адрес электронной почты Оператора: info@rcsi.science или путем письменного обращения по юридическому адресу: 119991, г. Москва, Ленинский просп., д.32А

8. Субъект персональных данных вправе запретить своему оборудованию прием этих данных или ограничить прием этих данных. При отказе от получения таких данных или при ограничении приема данных некоторые функции Сайта могут работать некорректно. Субъект персональных данных обязуется сам настроить свое оборудование таким способом, чтобы оно обеспечивало адекватный его желаниям режим работы и уровень защиты данных файлов «cookie», Оператор не предоставляет технологических и правовых консультаций на темы подобного характера.

9. Порядок уничтожения персональных данных при достижении цели их обработки или при наступлении иных законных оснований определяется Оператором в соответствии с законодательством Российской Федерации.

10. Я согласен/согласна квалифицировать в качестве своей простой электронной подписи под настоящим Согласием и под Политикой обработки персональных данных выполнение мною следующего действия на сайте: https://journals.rcsi.science/ нажатие мною на интерфейсе с текстом: «Сайт использует сервис «Яндекс.Метрика» (который использует файлы «cookie») на элемент с текстом «Принять и продолжить».