San Quentin won't allow salt and pepper due to "health concerns"...

[TreasonousBastard]

http://ethnoblog.newamericamedia.org/2009/12/salt-and-pepper.php#more

Salt And Pepper
By Michael Kroll, Dec 17, 2009 2:38 PM

The latest issue of San Quentin News (AUG/SEPT/OCT 2009), a prisoner-run newspaper (that has the Administration’s blessing) is filled with the kind of stories you expect to find in prison publications. The front page features stories that explain the latest federal court ruling regarding overcrowding in California’s prisons (“Taking a Thorough Look at the Federal Court Ruling”), inmates donating money to the fight against breast cancer (“S.Q. Closing on $9,000 Goal For Its Breast Cancer Walk”), the possibility that Willie Nelson might do a concert there next spring (“Willie To Play At S.Q.?”), and a profile of a Bay Area human rights advocate recently fired by the White House (“Van Jones: A Life With Ups and Downs”).

But the two-sentence front-page story that caught my eye — and still has me shaking my head in disbelief — is titled, “SALT & PEPPER.” It’s a simple story: “Salt and Pepper will no longer be provided to inmates in their lunches. Food service officials say that health concerns led to the decision.”

Health concerns? At San Quentin? Virtually no prisoner in that ancient fortress can escape the assaults to their health on a daily basis. It is filthy! Toilets routinely are backed up and flood individual cells and entire tiers. There is years of grime and mold on the walls. Prisoners are sometimes forced to take showers while standing ankle-deep in foul-smelling standing water. And no one I have ever visited there over the past 30 years has avoided the coughs, colds, fevers and general degradation to their health that such living conditions generate.

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Health concerns? Is there a fool alive who really believes that we care about inmate health in this state, especially after the federal courts have now stripped California of its responsibility for providing health care in our prisons because of its gross negligence in that regard? Is there anyone who doesn’t see through the “health concerns” rationale, who doesn’t recognize this as an out-and-out lie?

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[gateley]

1. But I bet there's plenty of high fructose corn syrup still on the menu. nt

[Cleita]

2. No there isn't.

Sugar and other sugary foods aren't allowed because the prisoners can make a kind of moonshine from it.

[SoCalNative]

3. I understand the salt

but what possible health concerns could there be about pepper?

[Ken Burch]

4. And this means the prison food is now HEALTHY?

[LeftyMom]

5. My Dad used to run prison kitchens. The meals were really, really good.

I was in school at the time and I'd have picked a prison meal over a school lunch any day of the week.

[TreasonousBastard]

9. There is a theory that if you feed them well, they will cause less...

trouble. Many prisons don't buy into that.

(This might, however, speak more about your school lunches than prison food-- I remember school unches back in the 60s that were absolutely dreadful.)

[LeftyMom]

10. The two state prisons he worked at both had excellent food.

Three hot meals a day, good ingredients, well-seasoned. It struck me as funny even at the time that school kids in the same area got horrible microwaved meals and people in the state pen ate so well- the few times school was out and no sitter could be found I'd come do homework in my Dad's office, and I always looked forward to it because the meals were fantastic. Always felt perfectly safe too- there were prisoners with knives a few feet away, but they were invariably very nice to me.

[Sanity Claws]

11. I think things may have changed

I'm a lawyer and had occasion to see what was being served in a federal prison. It was mostly refined carbs, heavy on bread with even the meat heavily breaded. It was as though the menu was selected in order to make the inmates fat and slow. I don't remember much else about it but there is no way that anyone could consider it excellent food.

[Jamastiene]

6. Uhm, the human body needs salt.

There is no reason at all pepper should be any sort of health worry.

Health concerns, my ass.

[HeresyLives]

7. Are they TRYING to kill them?

Sodium is one of the primary electrolytes in the body. All four cationic electrolytes (sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium) are available in unrefined salt, as are other vital minerals needed for optimal bodily function. Too much or too little salt in the diet can lead to muscle cramps, dizziness, or electrolyte disturbance, which can cause neurological problems, or be fatal.<38> Drinking too much water, with insufficient salt intake, puts a person at risk of water intoxication (hyponatremia). Salt is sometimes used as a health aid, such as in treatment of dysautonomia.<39>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt#Health_effects

[TreasonousBastard]

8. I'm not aware of any salt-deficiency problems in any...

population, even the prison population. There's usually enough salt already added in cooking and processing to meet dietary requirements. I wouldn't be surprised if prisoners really load up on the salt at mealtime. And, this appears to be only at lunch, where they might not be getting hot meals.

This seems a primarily punitive cost-cutting measure, or, more cynically, giving the guards a backdoor raise by adding salt&pepper to the list of contraband the guards sell the prisoners.

[Jkid]

12. At a health stand point it make sense.

We already eat enough salt in their bodies through the food we eat without adding any additional salt. But with all the other worse health problems in the San Quentin prison, that's the least of their worries.