Riotous ‘QAnon Shaman’ will eat organic food, while most prisons and prisons have a reputation for serving unhealthy food

Riotous ‘QAnon Shaman’ will eat organic food, while most prisons and prisons have a reputation for serving unhealthy food

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“The fact that this man enjoys this preference shows the double standard in the criminal justice system and in the detention system,” said Rev. Al Sharpton, an iconic civil rights activist and founder of the National Action Network.

Following the judge’s order, Chansley was transferred to William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center in Alexandria, Virginia, last Thursday. He was moved there after Aramark, one of the largest food suppliers in the country and the contracted food service by the prison, said it could meet the requirements of the court and provide organic food meals, sheriff’s spokesperson Amy Bertsch said. Alexandria, said.

His lawyers have argued in court documents that he needs an organic diet because of his belief in shamanism, an ideology that ‘focuses on belief in supernatural phenomena such as the world of gods, demons and ancestral spirits’.

Sharpton, who has been arrested more than 30 times and is in charge of state and federal facilities, said some prisons may respect a prisoner’s request, especially if it is a religious diet. But “sometimes it’s not likely.”

“In state prisons, you eat what they give you, or starve … it’s absolute punishment and punishment above and beyond human rights and dignity,” Sharpton said. “In federal states, they have different protocols, and they ask if you have dietary or religious preferences.”

A look at federal prison food

William G. Truesdale Adult Detention Center – where former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort and other high-profile defendants have been held – is not a federal prison.

But if convicted and sentenced, Chansley, who is a federal defendant, is likely to be transferred to a BOP facility.

Prisoners in federal custody receive a variety of breakfast items, including hot oatmeal, bread, jelly and fruit, according to a copy of the National Bureau of Prisons (BOP) national menu in 2020, shared with CNN. For lunch and dinner, there is a turn-five-week menu that includes beef or soy tacos, tuna salad or hummus and pepper steak or lentils, the menu reads.

For the budget for the 2019 financial year, the BOP has estimated that it will serve approximately 175 million meals to more than 184,000 federal prisoners. The BOP also estimates that more than $ 401,000 will be spent on food services for the 122 institutions and other facilities. This is about 4% of the agency’s budget for salaries and expenses.

Justin Long, a BOP spokesman, said fresh fruits and vegetables are served daily, and “prisoners have the choice to choose a regular, heart-healthy or no meat dish for every meal, including vegan-friendly options.”

“The quality of the food served to our captive population is a priority of the Bureau of Prisons,” Long said. He could not confirm whether the food served in BOP facilities is organic.

The BOP has a protocol to ensure that the food supply is safe and does not always document or communicate quality issues, according to a report by the Inspector General of the Department of Justice.
In recent years, sellers have been accused of supplying counterfeit food to BOP. Last year, two meat packaging plant managers were sentenced to 46 and 42 months in prison, respectively, after being accused of providing $ 1 million in counterfeit meat, including whole cow hearts labeled as minced beef, to 32 BOPs, the report said.
Last month, the owners of a food company that supplies prisons in South Carolina agreed to pay $ 250,000 after authorities claimed from 2011 to 2018 that they had diluted the spices that “essentially consisted of filler,” the Department of Justice said in a news release.

“Contractors selected and paid by the government to deliver food to prisoners are expected to meet contractual and other standards,” said Kenneth R. Dieffenbach, special agent in charge of the justice department.

“When they supply counterfeit products, as the accused apparently did here, the government is cheated and the health and safety of prisoners is endangered.”

According to lawyers, black and colored people are served ‘terrible food’ daily

The Alexandria Detention Center, where Chansley is being held pending trial.

Leslie Soble, a research fellow at Impact Justice, a non-profit organization campaigning for criminal law reform, said it was completely unheard of to feed inmates in U.S. correctional facilities.

“Millions of other prisoners, mostly from black and brown people from low-income communities, are served horrible food day after day, year after year,” said Soble, lead author of “Eating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food.” said. in Prison, ” a report examining the quality and impact of food in America’s prisons.

“Chansley is a shining example of white privilege and racial injustice,” she said, referring to his ability to get such food and also move facilities to do so.

The report, based on responses from nearly 500 prisoners and family members, found that the food offered in the food is in many cases unsafe, unattractive and has a low nutritional value.

“Someone told us that the only time they would get chocolate milk was when the milk was spoiled,” said Soble, who has done extensive research on food served in prison.

About 75% of respondents reported that they served rotten or spoiled food while locked up, the report said, and many people who had to work in the kitchen of their prison said they were asked to serve chicken or beef from packages marked as “not for human consumption.”

While most facilities require vegetables and fruits to be included with meals, Soble says what’s on offer ranges from a spoonful of apple sauce, pieces of canned fruit and canned green beans. In most states, Soble estimates that prisons spend between $ 2.50 and $ 3 per person on meals a day.

Asked about the food served in the Alexandria prison, an Aramark spokesman told CNN that all menus for correctional facilities were designed by ‘registered dietitians to meet the nutritional needs’ specified by each individual facility. and the guidelines set by the American Correctional Association.

Sharpton said he believes there should be a federal law to address the feeding of inmates because not all people in jail are convicted of a crime.

Some are still unable to post bail, he said, and “they are treated as less than people. There is no consideration for their health. There is no consideration for their dietary preferences.”

“It should be a law in the United States that we do not lock people up and force them to eat food in order to survive with food provided by the state that is contrary to what their health needs, religious needs or nutritional preferences are. whatever, “he said.

Soble has seen criticism of the decision to grant Chansley’s request for organic food, hoping it will lead to more people questioning why poor quality jail food has become the norm.

“Why is it acceptable to use food as punishment for people who are imprisoned?” Soble said.

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