Nutritional Rehabilitation: Why healthier foods lead to better outcomes

One of the first handouts distributed to new arrivals in CCWF Receiving gives mental health tips, including recommendations for a balanced diet with fruits, vegetables, lean proteins, and whole grains. These basic health tools are almost entirely unavailable at CCWF.

In fact, California’s female prisoners exist in a dangerous gap between what prisons claim to provide versus the damage to our health through poor food. If nutrition was prioritized as a meaningful part of rehabilitation at CCWF, chow would look a whole lot different. Here are some reasons why CCWF should double-down on its efforts to provide healthy foods.

A prisoner’s entire focus during incarceration, ideally, is on: 1) developing emotional awareness, discipline and empathy, as well as connecting and integrating what led to their crime; and 2) pursuing any missed education, from GED to college. This requires access to decent nutrition, which is a prerequisite to effective learning of any kind.

Countless studies have shown that nutritious meals play an essential role in higher levels of focus and concentration during learning. This was the basis of Michelle Obama’s programs during her White House years to provide nutritious school lunches, especially in underserved areas of the United States. In director-producer Michael Moore’s documentary film Supersize Me, several inner-city schools changed their fastfood lunches to nutritious alternatives. Their teachers unanimously reported huge improvements in students’ focus and performance, plus the near-total elimination of anger, aggression and violence at school.

It’s not hard to see similarities between these inner-city schools and CCWF. The majority of women’s cases involve mental health issues, trauma, and/or substance addiction. Mental health treatment is especially important, but it is available on a very limited basis in jail and prison. So, it’s even more critical that residents have some fundamental prevention of further anxiety, depression and anger. What a game-changer it could be to be able to meet these challenges with the tool of nutritious food. At the same time, unhealthy food disables prisoners physically and psychologically.

It’s well known that poor nutrition plays a significant role in anxiety and depression, A.D.D., anger and impulse control, and other psychological issues. A 2022 review by Frontiers in Nutrition cited multiple studies that showed that a shortage of B vitamins, zinc and magnesium increases risk of depression and other mental disorders involving the nervous system. However, Vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids reduce the risk of depression and other psychiatric disorders. These nutrients are notably missing from prison fare.

Fake Health

According to Bureau of Justice statistics, about 44% of people incarcerated in the U.S. have experienced chronic conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes and other heart problems. In comparison, 31% of the general population suffer from these conditions. The National Commission on Correctional Health Care (NCCHC) noted in 2023 that incarcerated people commonly gain weight, which increases their risk of serious health conditions.

While the institution is quick to administer insulin shots to diabetics and serves low-sugar pudding or Jell-O water substance with evening chow, the menu is still a diabetic disaster. Real-world nutritionists advise diabetics to follow a high-protein, low-carbohydrate and low-glycemic index diet with minimal sugar. Here, the food pyramid is upside-down, with carbohydrates comprising the majority of daily calories. Rice and beans are added to fulfill daily calorie requirements, adding unnecessary carbohydrates to meals. No, beans are not a complete protein.

Every meal served at the chow hall includes three to five servings of carbohydrates, with an average of a half serving protein, and one to 1.5 actual servings of fruit or vegetable. A “serving” of salad is typically one-quarter cup of iceberg bits, possibly with a few tiny carrot and cabbage shreds. It takes three to four prisoners’ salad servings to fill one small salad bowl.

Often the menu lists two to three fresh fruit/veggie items for breakfast and lunch combined, but there is only one provided. Sometimes the item isn’t consumable without extra preparation, such as a single, whole white onion. It’s a fake-out to list “fruit” on the menu and then serve four-ounce plastic bags of 95% corn syrup and water. Meanwhile, diabetics can buy all the usual sugar-bomb snacks and carbs from canteen, from candy bars to popcorn.

The NCCHC also recognized the dangers of such ingredients, including processed meats, corn syrup, high-fructose corn syrup, and hydrogenated oils. saying that “the consumption of ultra-processed foods…and processed meat may increase all-cause mortality.”

Dishes such as chili and sloppy joe’s are swimming in a greasy corn-syrup broth. Corn syrups and hydrogenated oils have been linked to cancer, heart problems, blood sugar imbalance, and fat gain, especially around the middle body. If a diabetic consumes sugar-free pudding at the same time as a cup of corn-syrup sauce, is there any blood-sugar benefit?

A Serving is Not a Serving

What if you bought some milk labeled “one gallon,” and it was clearly a half gallon? Sometimes a child-sized CALPIA milk carton is one-half to two-thirds full. Those eight grams of protein suddenly became 3-5 grams. The printed menu may appear to fulfill the state’s base nutrition requirements, but prisoners are driven by a deep hunger to spend a lot more on canteen or quarterly vendor products.

Parts of the menu distributed to housing units look acceptable, but the document often masks an uglier reality. Protein is notoriously under-represented; foods such as beans, bean chili, nuts, or spaghetti are counted, but they are not complete proteins, and some are still high in carbohydrates. California Code of Regulations Title 15 cites a daily requirement of approximately 68 grams of protein (42 grams from meats, fish, eggs, beans and nuts, plus approximately 24 grams from dairy servings). In reality, chow provides about 35 grams of protein per day on average, if all food servings are consumable.

A Simple Vision for Improvement

Occasionally there are attempts at adding more nutrients to the menu, but they are short-lived. Some of the dinners briefly included mixed dark greens in minuscule amounts, but for reasons not publicly disclosed, this was taken away again. Dark, leafy greens should be a dietary regular for everyone!

It would be simple and doable to reverse the food pyramid and switch key ingredients to healthier, real-food options while maintaining cost. Conveniently, CCWF is placed square in the heart of an agricultural haven of California fresh foods. The state could cultivate relationships with local farmers to obtain bulk deals on fresh fruits, nuts, vegetables, eggs and chicken, at the least. A regular appearance of the newly piloted farmer’s market would be a fabulous way to bring more nutrition inside these walls.

Additionally, low-sugar, high-protein snacks could be provided by the canteen store, including lower-sugar protein bars, nuts, dehydrated berries and colorful vegetables, like dark, leafy greens, carrots and peppers. The NCCHC recommends adopting a diet based on national standards for nutrition and food safety, “offering a variety of labeled, healthy commissary food and beverage options; and implementing wellness programs that include behavioral management strategies and exercise programs for managing weight gain” among its solutions.

Let’s work to make this vision match reality.