Prisons are absolutely a waste of human life and potentials. They are also an enormous waste of tax money and assets.
At SCI-Huntingdon, as at other state prisons, food and supplies are wasted, misappropriated and discarded. In the kitchen at Huntingdon conditions are staggering.
On one recent day the bakery discarded over 560 portions of a cake-like substance identified as "brownies." As the whole population of the prison is about 1900, the waste is ridiculous!
The taxpayers generously bought the ingredients and paid the bakers to make these desserts for the prisoners, but Huntingdon doesn't allow "extras" to be served to prisoners. Instead, it is stolen by the guards, or, more often, simply trashed.
If a prisoner is caught with an "extra" "brownie," he's written up and fined $1.00 or more for each "extra" he has. Guards may have all they can steal, which is always a goodly amount. But, you can figure that $560.00 worth of "brownies" were wasted.
On that same day, over 125 loaves of bread were discarded. They'd never even been sliced. Rather than give them to the prisoners, they were thrown away. In addition, 30 or more loaves of what is called "Italian" bread was dumped.
This totals at least $1000.00 of waste for that day just from the bakery.
On the same day at least 2 TONS of "garbage" was discarded from the mess hall and at least another TON from the kitchen. Even if the average value of the waste is only $1 a pound (a low estimate given the large amount of meat that's trashed), that's $3000.00 a day just from the kitchen. With the bakery, the food waste totals over $1,400.000.00 a year just at Huntingdon!
It seems not to have occurred to the jackals that if prisoners were given the "extras," that's that much less that would have to be made for the next meal.
The fixed policy is that it's better to throw huge amounts of food away than to serve it to prisoners. The jackals seem terrified by the idea that some prisoners might "sell" or really barter some of the food and make a tiny income. To the jackal mind, it's better to waste $1,400,000.00 of tax money than to let a prisoner hustle a few pennies!
Now, guards are a different matter.
Taxpayers provide food for prisoners, but the guards get the lion's share. The whole prison staff (about 700 for the 1900 prisoners) eat at taxpayer expense, and they eat the best and the most that the prison can provide. Special pastries, salads, sodas, cheeses, lunch meats, dressings, dishes and condiments are given to the staff in a daily "all-you-can-eat" buffet.
Most of the food scarffed down by the staff is even clean and served on clean plates in a clean place. Prisoners NEVER have such a luxury. The kitchen and bakery are filthy. They are also very dangerous for the slave-labor force of prisoners who are forced to toil there because there are no industrial safety protections or safeguards. Prisoners are 100% expendable when maimed, burned or crippled.
As there is no vacation or sick time, the prisoner works for many hours. He's not exactly a slave, however because the prison gives him a small insult that it pretends is "pay." A prisoner makes about $7.20.
Oh, that's not $7.20 an hour. It's not even $7.20 a day. That's $7.20 a WEEK! Remember that just the photocopies for an appeal may easily cost $60.00. The fee to file a federal complaint when a guard violates your civil rights is $120.00 or almost 4 months wages! Even a bottle of shampoo costs 3 days wages!
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