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By Destry McKinney
On Aug. 22, I saw something I had never seen before in my 20-plus years in Alabama prisons.
Around 1 p.m. on that Saturday, four incarcerated people went from O-Dorm to a prison kitchen in William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility outside Birmingham and returned to our living area with trays of made-to-order food prepared hot and served restaurant-style.
Generally our foods are mass-produced and served off an assembly line. But as of late August, we now have the option once a week to order more individualized meals.
This is all because of the iCare Fresh program, a new initiative inside Alabama prisons where loved ones can purchase freshly prepared meals and have them delivered to eligible incarcerated people who meet certain behavior criteria. The incentive program is run by Aramark, a Pennsylvania-based corporation that handles food services inside several state prison systems nationwide.
The program was rolled out across multiple Alabama prisons over the summer; Donaldson is among the most recent recipients of these food deliveries. (A press representative for Aramark’s Correctional Services division did not respond to a Sept. 3 email from The Food Section seeking comment.)
When men returned to the dorm entrance with their food on that first Saturday, they were met with curiosity.
I spoke with Mitch Rutledge from Columbus, Georgia, who has been locked up for over 45 years, and Tommy Hubbard from Chicago, who has been incarcerated for a decade.
Rutledge and Hubbard both said they were skeptical that the program would actually happen when it was announced a couple weeks earlier in the prison newsletter. The advertisement listed several combo meals we could order: chicken tenders ($13.99), a double cheeseburger ($19.59), and a Buffalo chicken salad ($14.99). Available sides: tater tots ($2.89), chocolate chip cookies ($2.69) and Pepsi ($2.89).
Rutledge’s family ordered him the chicken tenders combo, which he said was cooked well. He said he wants to try the burger next time.
“It’s great,” Rutledge said. “It was worth the money and I would recommend it to others.”
Hubbard agreed. “I like burgers and I got full,” Hubbard said. “It was worth the money.”
Hubbard did say that he got a Coke instead of the Pepsi that was advertised. “I would rather have Pepsi,” he said.
Generally, this is how food service would normally work on a Saturday: Breakfast is called at 7:50 a.m. and we walk about 50 yards to the kitchen, rain or shine. Once inside, we form a line, then grab trays filled with food from a rectangular slot in the wall. We eat in a dining area that seats about 70 people, and we aren’t supposed to bring any food back to our living area.
With this program, Rutledge said he walked to the kitchen, showed his prison ID, signed for his meal, and then an Aramark employee brought the food to him. He could return to the dorm to eat the food, too.
On Saturdays, Sundays and holidays — including Christmas, Thanksgiving and Jefferson Davis’ birthday — Alabama prisoners are only fed two meals: breakfast and dinner. It’s strange. In our national culture, people traditionally eat more, not less, on weekends and holidays. But not us. Is this policy a part of punishment, or a way to save money? Either way, this weekend schedule means the iCare program has the opportunity to fill a gap.
One man I spoke with, who has been incarcerated for 23 years and asked not to be named in the story, wanted to see if the food was worth the money before ordering anything.
After seeing the meals, he said he would only buy them if he had no other options.
“On the snack-line here, I can get more for my money,” he said.
To make his point, he did the math using snack-line items: two Big Az cheeseburgers at $4.78 each, one ice cream at $2.77, a bag of sour cream chips at 58 cents, one honey bun at $1.23 and a 20-ounce soda for $1.31. All these items total $15.45, about the same or less than the fresh program’s combo meals.
From what I’ve seen, the Saturday fresh program meals exceed the regular state meals in both quality and quantity.
This man, however, still had qualms.
“The meat on the burger appeared to be processed, not real ground beef,” he said. “The chicken tenders are too small for the money, and the cookies and drinks are too expensive. The only thing I see that comes close to the cost they’re charging is the salad.”
Other people told me they would like pizza added to the menu and agreed that prices should be lowered. No one I spoke to had any complaints about the ordering process or delivery.
The program is just getting started but for now seems well received. I have plans to order the Buffalo chicken salad.
By Richard “Corey” Fox
For most incarcerated people, food isn’t associated with pleasure or special occasions. It’s just a means of survival. Prison food is often unrecognizable, bland and sometimes spoiled. But in recent months the Alabama Department of Corrections has contracted with Aramark, and, in my view, this has greatly improved the quality of food in the state prison system.
The quantity may be less than what it used to be, but with the new food selection you’re more likely to eat all of the food on the tray as opposed to just one or two items.
Now, breakfast consists of a couple of blueberry muffins, oatmeal, sausage, syrup and juice or milk. Sometimes we have breakfast burritos with eggs, peppers and onions. Lunch and supper have featured broccoli, cauliflower, charbroiled meat patties, fresh carrots, Polish sausage, sloppy Joes and baked potatoes.
Before, we had corn dogs that were green, dirty rice or dirty noodles, and bologna that, if placed in the microwave, smelled like a rancid pair of socks.
More recently, Aramark started the iCare Fresh program, through which families and friends can order a meal delivered to you on a designated date. The program is only open to people who have not had any disciplinary infractions for the last six months and are not in restricted housing.
This incentive-based food system is a new wrinkle for us. It may make people be on their best behavior. But the downside of the program is that the cost may be too high for poorer people to participate and detractors could view it as a commercialization of mass incarceration.
At William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility, where I am currently detained, the program started letting family and friends order on Aug. 11 with the first meals served up Aug. 22.
We could choose from a double Angus burger meal that’s 5.3 ounces of meat with romaine lettuce, purple onion, a slice of tomato and American cheese, served on a potato roll. With sides, the meal costs a little more than $21. Then you have the chicken tender meal, which features three 2-ounce breaded chicken tenders with sides for about $15. The Buffalo chicken salad meal is 3.5 ounces of romaine lettuce, two 3-ounce grilled chicken breasts, chopped and placed over croutons, shredded mozzarella cheese, grape tomatoes and peeled cucumbers; blue cheese crumbles and black pepper top it off. Add in sides and it’s just over $22.
Sides include a 20-ounce soda, 10 tater tots, and four Otis Spunkmeyer chocolate chip cookies.
The meals are prepared at the prison by Aramark-certified incarcerated cooks, supervised by Aramark staff, then served through the chow hall, where incarcerated residents pick up their meals before returning to their living areas to eat.
Meals are served on Saturdays (after visitation) because weekends and holidays are two-meal days while the rest of the week consists of three-meal days.
James Edmond McWilliams, one of the certified incarcerated cooks, informed me that future menu items will likely include personal pizzas and chicken wings.
“But I believe the burger will be most popular,” McWilliams said. “The amount of meat is bigger than the Big Mac and the Wendy’s burgers.”
McWilliams told me 70 meals were ordered the first week: 36 burger combos, 23 chicken tender combos and 11 salads.
One salad customer, Mario Davis, said he was very satisfied.
“It was easy for my people to set up an account and order the meal,” he said. “It was kind of better than I expected.”
He did admit the tater tots were kind of soft.
(A press representative for Aramark’s Correctional Services division did not respond to a Sept. 3 email from The Food Section seeking comment on residents’ impressions of the program.)
“But they’ll figure it out,” he added. “Plus, I can only order one meal per seven days. That’s my only complaint.”
Rondonaldrick Farrior said that he ordered the burger plate.
“It was easy for my family to do and they’ve already ordered me another one with extra sides for next week,” Farrior said with a laugh.
When asked what all he plans to try, he told me: “Nothing, just burgers all the time.”
“They do need to work on their tots though,” he confirmed.
