If you want to make prison inmates really mad, try substituting their apple pie for applesauce. That was one of 200 unauthorized substitutions made at private prison commissaries in Colorado last year – apparently due to poor inventory control by the chef de cuisine. Canned green beans for fresh broccoli didn’t sit well with inmates, either, nor did turkey sausage rather than pork sausage and the turkey cold cuts that replaced hot “turkey ham.”
The list is long. And inmates have plenty of time to contemplate their culinary fate since the menu is posted in advance. The substitutions were not deemed “nutritionally equivalent” to food on the approved master menu, a state review of private prisons found.
The report noted that “good quality, adequate meals are essential to effective management of prison operations.” By the same token, “poor food service can be one of several factors that contribute to facility disturbances, as was the case with the riot that occurred at one private prison in July 2004.” The riot was in Crowley, where inmates were already bummed out over lousy food for days leading up to the disturbance, DOC spokeswoman Patti Micciche said. “If you want to talk about the riot starters, it’s food,” said Micciche.
New contracts signed in recent days between the Department of Corrections, which oversees private prisons in Colorado, and private food service operators should improve matters. Micciche said the contracts clarify the policy regarding the acceptable number and types of menu substitutions. That’s a relief. There’s something to be said for sticking to the menu, especially when you have a captive audience.
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With Election Day on Nov. 1 fast approaching, Senate Majority Leader Ken Gordon and a band of fellow travelers are continuing a bipartisan trek across Colorado to drum up support for Referendums C and D. Despite television and radio ads and media coverage, Gordon said the overwhelming majority of voters he meets are clueless about the measures. Referendum C is the ballot proposal that would let the state keep and spend an estimated $3.7 billion in extra revenues over the next five years to fund state programs and services and avoid more budget cuts. Referendum D would allow the state to issue bonds to pay for road projects and other needs. Gordon believes his 350-mile walk between Wyoming and New Mexico is stirring support that political ads are not. “For many people, political ads are like elevator music,” he said.
The Colorado Municipal League reports that support for C and D is broad throughout the state, with more than 830 organizations and entities on record in support, including more than 50 cities and towns. But turnout could be the key. Some 2.1 million voters statewide, or 89 percent, turned out for last year’s presidential election. But no odd-year election has ever attracted more than 1 million voters. Today is the last day to register to vote.
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Legislative interim committees are wrapping up their summer sessions this month with more than a dozen proposals for new laws. The plans sent to the drafting office range from helping uninsured Coloradans through a state-subsidized insurance premium, to giving preference to competitively priced, environmentally friendly products and services and providing more incentives for the motion picture industry to make films in Colorado.
A key bipartisan proposal is aimed at avoiding another flawed high-tech system like the state’s $200 million Colorado Benefits Management System, which processes welfare benefits. “CBMS is only the latest of the high tech contracts that we had problems with,” said Rep. Paul Weissmann, D-Louisville. “We’ve had a string of three or four. We want to avoid those kinds of pitfalls in the future.”
Julia C. Martinez (jmartinez@denverpost.com) is a member of The Denver Post editorial board.
