Prison Punishment Loaf

A “food loaf,” designed to provide nutrition for prisoners while punishing them, received poor reviews during a tasting at a Florida legislative hearing. Several volunteers and State Senator Victor Crist, chairman of the Criminal and Civil Justice Appropriations Committee, sampled the loaf Wednesday. Richard Prudom, chief of staff of the Department of Corrections, brought two samples and the recipe to the hearing at the request of another senator who refused to eat it. The kindest comment was: “Doesn’t smell bad.” There was general agreement that the “food loaf” was tasteless. One unlucky volunteer said the consistency was that of “something that’s been eaten before.” Ingredients included carrots, spinach, black-eyed peas, beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, grits, water and oats. Each volunteer received a free bottle of Beano and a barf bag.