Thousands of Southerners live in prisons. What are we feeding them?  

In the U.S. nearly 1.5 million people live in state and federal prisons. About a third of them are imprisoned in the South. As the population of incarcerated people has soared, budgets haven’t followed, leaving food managers to provide more meals with less money. Two formerly incarcerated people, Lupa Brandt and Zahara Green, tell us the results are often physically and mentally unsatisfying. Inmates end up feeling sick and devalued. Lupa and Zahara argue that’s a public health problem everyone should care about because 95% of inmates return to their communities.     

Irina Zhorov reported and produced this episode.

Lupa Brandt was incarcerated for more than 30 years. She said the food in prison contributed to her ill health.

We thank Blue Dot Sessions for the music in this episode, which includes the following tracks:
Gra Hovedvei by Fjell
Talltell by Flatlands
Rate Sheet by Union Hall
White Limit by Cloudbreaker 
Moon Bicycle Theme by American Moon Bicycle 
The Yards by Skittle

For further reading, we recommend The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, by Michelle Alexander.

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