From Vera Institute of Justice:
“[It’s one of my] trademark meals to this day,” said Matthew of his unique spin on a Thanksgiving staple: pepperoni cornbread stuffing. It was the then-head cook’s answer to the lack of sausage available at his correctional facility in the Northeast. “I got everybody together, and I had everybody buy pepperoni off of commissary,” he recalled. With over one hundred packages contributed, Matthew’s crowdfunded concoction was a hit, and he made pepperoni stuffing for several years running afterward. And now, post-release, it features on his family’s own holiday table.
Maneuvering around constraints imposed by the ubiquitous Keefe Group—which supplies food and other services to correctional facilities nationwide—Matthew worked to make eating behind bars tolerable, even enjoyable. He resisted serving food he considered substandard and, whenever possible, heeded his peers’ requests and preferences. “[Food is] a sense of relief; when you can go to the kitchen and get a good meal [it’s uplifting],” he said. “I always tried to produce that for people.”
Still, despite Matthew’s ingenuity, his efforts were ultimately that of an individual person attempting to alleviate and make up for institutional failures to provide adequate, healthy food—a misconceived cost-saving measure that’s lucrative for corporations. Continue reading >>>
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