During an orientation upon the arrival of a plane load of Alaskan prisoners at this private, for-profit prison, operated by Corrections Corporation of America, here in Florence, Arizona, Warden Luna went out of his way to inform us that the new contract, to take effect shortly thereafter, would include fresh fruit and beef. I actually thought the idea was funny. You know, that Alaska DOC and CCA would really need to specify that meat and fruit would be a part of the diet. I should not have been surprised. In the following days, prior to the new contract taking effect, turkey, in one form or another, was served at nearly every meal: turkey bologna, turkey salami, turkey sausage, turkey roll, turkey hot dogs, and turkey ham (tell me what freakin’ part of a turkey is it’s hot dog and ham?!). Then there’s the bane of the low calorie diet: ground turkey, served up loose, without seasoning, not quite cooked and half-pink, cold and soggy. Now, we did occasionally get a chicken. It was, and remains, listed on the menu as barbecued, oven fried, baked, or just plain chicken quarter, but those descriptions are all aliases for “baked,” mostly cooked, and served from a pan of water, used to keep it warm for the half-mile trip from the kitchen to the housing units.
Frankly, the reason that beef and fruit had to be made the subject of the contract was because that was a way to attempt to resolve an on-going problem” the existing nutrition-deficient, empty calorie, high carbohydrate diet. Prior to the new contract, any beef on the menu was in the form of processed, pre-formed patties and was listed among other ingredients, such as “mechanically separated chicken parts,” soy meal, cereal, and a host of chemicals. The “4 oz. Beef Patties” come with all that, plus an added Alpo after-taste.
Needless to say, when the new contract took effect and we were informed that actual cow meat would be on the menu nine times per month...well, WAHOO!!! It wasn’t high brow faire, only shoulder-part stew meat and, sometimes, slices or diced muscle tips, but it was beef. Add to that the promise of fresh fruit three (3) times a week, and we thought we were gonna be jailin’!
Our relief and gratitude proved short-lived. CCA’s food service sub-contractor, Canteen, makes its profit on the pennies it can steal by short-portioning or menu deviation, by employing slave labor, and using the absolutely cheapest ingredients it can find. Within weeks, the real sliced or diced beef was replaced by the offal of a meat patty processing line called “Steakette Pieces,” described as “sliced and formed” droppings, packed and frozen in an 18% soup of preservatives and other chemicals. Back in full force were the old pre-formed beef/chicken/soy/cereal/chemical patties. When questioned about the deviations from the menu and contract, Ms. K. Sanchez, former-CCA/Canteen food service administrator, stated that “beef was listed on the labels’ contents, so...” As for the fresh fruit, well, apples are a fresh fruit, even if they are provided unwashed, halved, and served brown side up, regularly and with rare exception, for months and months.
I understand that the average Alaskan citizen, being mostly white, conservative, and pseudo-Puritan, either doesn’t care if prisoners even get fed, or believe that justice would be better satisfied if “turd” was an entree on the menu, but isn’t there a State employee, somewhere, who collects a healthy check for assuring that the State’s contractors comply with the terms for which it pays its good oil money? Is Al Szepanski still the Procurment Manager? Is Sharon Frascati still the Contract Administrator? If not, who are their replacements and why are they still receiving their full pay for NOT doing their jobs? How about the Commissioner, Marc Antrim, or the Director of Institutions? Does collecting a high State salary while not performing one’s duties amount to a “Kickback” in your dictionary?
Would it be inappropriate to ask if, perhaps, the responsible parties might also be receiving something from CCA? If you believe that is beyond the pale, remember Mr. Alan Cooper, former Director of Institutions. Days after his retirement from the Alaska Department of Corrections, he went to work for CCA, running one of their private prisons in New Mexico. He avoided State ethics regulations, specifically those regarding accepting employment from a contractor that one has supervised for a certain time upon retirement, by moving out of Alaska.
Who is responsible for assuring the ethics of your public officials? If you believe it is the Office of the Alaska Attorney General, I invite you to read “Alaska Department of Corrections Institution Probation Officer Jeanne Fischer and Superintendent Dan Carothers: Untruthful, Dishonest, Untrustworthy.”
Set aside the question: “Where’s the beef?” Instead, ask where is the honesty, integrity, trustworthiness, and truthfulness in your State officials? Ask, too, how many of them have invested in CCA.
Anthony L. Brown November 22, 2005 CCA/FCC