Jakarta –
An ex-convict who is serving a two-year sentence in prison reveals food which he gets every day. Here’s how it looks and feels.
Apart from the food offered on planes, food in prison is also known to taste bad. However, not long ago there was a former convict from Australia who revealed the types of food he received while serving a two-year prison sentence.
Launching 7news.com.au (26/02), a former convict named Jackson Allum is one of 43,000 people behind bars in Australia. He told 7News that food in prison is usually prepared en masse by fellow inmates who are assigned to work in the kitchen.
Jackson Allum revealed that every day they would start with a simple breakfast of cereal or bread. On normal days, inmates usually eat a frozen sandwich filled with corned beef, tuna, ham, cheese, chicken, eggs and extra Vegemite (a special Australian jam).
Meanwhile for lunch on weekends, sandwiches are replaced with other frozen foods in the form of sausage rolls or pork stuffed pastries. When inmates are back in detention, they will be left out for dinner of other heated frozen items such as curries, stews, some meats and vegetables.
Allum revealed that this food might sound tempting, but it’s not.
“That sounds tempting. When you hear it it’s like, ‘Beef with soy sauce, that sounds pretty good,’ but it’s not,” Allum said.
Although not very appetizing, this former convict in Australia thinks his food can still be enjoyed.
NSW Minister of Corrections Geoff Lee added to the comment that the inmates certainly would not be allowed to eat like kings. But they are presented with a variety of food choices with a regular meal schedule that will meet their needs.
“They certainly don’t eat like a king, but they are given a variety of meals which will be rotated according to a schedule to meet their needs, ensure they are well fed and ready to participate in all the valuable activities in the prison,” said Lee.
Among the food choices in prison, there is one menu that Allum seems to really like. The menu is called Devil Wings, which are pieces of chicken wings with the right spices. Even though the chicken wings are quite small, Allum likes them because they really taste like meat.
As previously mentioned, some of the food in prisons is made by prisoners of a certain class. Prisoners in low security areas usually make meal plans, buy and cook their own meals.
While prisoners who are at the maximum security level are only allowed out of the cell for one hour every day. Therefore, they are only allowed to create limited food items in their room.
It might seem that the prisoners were getting enough food, but Allum revealed that they couldn’t just survive. Therefore, some prisoners sometimes buy canned tuna and instant noodles in their weekly shopping plan.
“When you are there (in prison), you will get tuna because it is the best protein. So a lot of people eat tuna because otherwise you will starve,” Allum explained.
The food served in Australia’s penal system is largely made by the convicts themselves as a form of practice that will equip them with a series of post-parole qualifications.
One of Australia’s largest prison kitchens, Geoffrey Pearce in Windsor employs 90 inmates who cook 3.9 million meals for inmates each year. Meanwhile in the Long Bay area, they hired 45 convicts to make 25,000 roti every week.
Each state in Australia actually has a varied meal plan that can be reviewed from different needs.
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