Nutraloaf

Prison Loaf
Alternative names	Nutraloaf, disciplinary loaf, food loaf, confinement loaf, seg loaf, special management meal
Type	Meal
Place of origin	United States
Cookbook:Prison Loaf  Prison Loaf

Prison Loaf, sometimes called Nutraloaf, disciplinary loaf, food loaf, confinement loaf, seg loaf, or special management meal,^[1] is a food served in United States prisons to inmates who have have misbehaved in various ways; for example, assaulting prison guards or fellow prisoners.^[2] It is similar to meatloaf in texture, but has a wider variety of ingredients. Prison loaf is usually bland, perhaps even unpleasant, but prison wardens argue that nutraloaf provides enough nutrition to keep prisoners healthy without requiring utensils to be issued.^[3]

Preparation

There are many recipes which include a range of food, from vegetables, fruit, meat, and bread or other grains. The ingredients are blended and baked into a solid loaf. In one version, it is made from a mixture of ingredients that include ground beef, vegetables, beans, and bread crumbs. Other versions include mechanically separated poultry and "dairy blend".^[4]

Legal challenges

Although nutraloaf can be found in many United States prisons, its use is controversial. It was mentioned by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1978 in Hutto v. Finney while ruling that conditions in the Arkansas penal system constituted cruel and unusual punishment. Prisoners were fed "grue", described as "a substance created by mashing meat, potatoes, margarine, syrup, vegetables, eggs, and seasoning into a paste and baking the mixture in a pan." The majority decision delivered by Justice Stevens upheld an order from the 8th Circuit Court that the grue diet be discontinued.^[5]

The standards of the American Correctional Association, which accredits prisons, discourage the use of food as a disciplinary measure, but adherence to the organization's food standards is voluntary.^[6][7] Denying inmates food as punishment has been found to be unconstitutional by the courts,^[8] but because the loaf is generally nutritionally complete, it is sometimes justified as a "dietary adjustment" rather than a denial of proper meals.^[6]

Lawsuits regarding nutraloaf have taken place in several states, including Illinois,^[9] Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia.^[2] In March 2008, prisoners brought their case before the Vermont Supreme Court, arguing that since Vermont state law does not allow food to be used as punishment, nutraloaf must be removed from the menu.^[10] The Vermont Supreme Court held that Nutraloaf and water diet constitutes punishment as it was designed to be unappetizing and as such compelled their conclusion.^[11] In April 2010, sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County Arizona won a federal judgment in favor of the constitutionality of nutraloaf.^[12]

See also

• Hardtack, hard bread of military and naval use
• Horsebread, a European bread eaten by the poor
• Humanitarian daily ration
• Kongbap, a staple in Korean prisons, various mixtures of rice, grains, peas, and beans
• Nut roast, a main dish made by some vegetarians or vegans
• Pemmican, the Native American concentrated food
• Soylent, a nutritionally complete beverage.

References

External links

• Chicago magazine dining critic tries Nutraloaf, September 2010
• Clark County jail's recipe
• "Loaf Without Parole". Slate.com. 2002-12-23.  Contains a recipe for "the Loaf".
• Cohen, Adam. "Can Food Be Cruel and Unusual Punishment?" TIME. April 2, 2012.
• Greenwood, Arin. "Taste-Testing Nutraloaf." Slate. Tuesday June 24, 2008.