Meals in county jails
It is no secret that the food served in county jails across the United States is not usually rated five star. Inmates usually rate food from one to a six on a scale of one to ten depending on what part of the country you are in.
Do they get enough food?
While most county jails serve three meals per day there are certain notable exceptions. The most famous jail is Maricopa County Jail (Arizona) which only serves two meals per day. Maricopa also makes inmates wear pink underwear and live in tents. Sheriff Joe Arpaio is currently under fire for his controversial treatment of inmates.
In general, however, it appears that inmates do receive enough food to get by. They might get hungry during the day but there are ways to subsidize their rations through trading with other inmates and commissary.
Gambling behind bars
Inmates like to gamble and like gamblers on the outside they like to have something at stake. Usually behind bars inmates will gamble for “trays,” or meals. Of course this helps out the winner but somebody who hits a losing streak can be in danger of losing quite a bit of food.
Commissary
A recent inmate in the Boulder County Jail (Colorado) said that if you didn’t have money you were going to be hungry because the food was so bad.
The best way to subsidize small portions in county jail is to order food off of commissary. Most jail commissaries will offer food such as Ramen noodles. If the local food is really bad some inmates will even forego provided meals in favor of commissary items.
The problem with commissary is that it is not cheap and most inmates do not have an income. They must rely on friends and family on the outside for funds to make purchases.
Special inmate recipes
Inmates are nothing if not resourceful. Anybody who has spent significant time behind bars knows a lot of recipes for meals that can be cooked entirely from items from commissary. Some jails don’t offer microwaves to inmates so they come up with creative (and dangerous) ways to heat water.
The most popular hot water heating device is a “stinger.” This is a device that must be plugged in to the wall on one end and dropped into a cup of water providing an electrical current. Water can start boiling within seconds. Many inmates have been electrocuted with this dangerous water heating method.
