Nutraloaf is a food served in prisons in the United States and formerly Canada to inmates who have misbehaved; for example, assaulting prison guards or fellow prisoners. 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.
Preparation
There are many recipes that 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".
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 "", described as "a substance created by mashing meat, potatoes, oleo , 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 diet be discontinued. 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. Denying inmates food as punishment has been found to be unconstitutional by the courts, but because the loaf is generally nutritionally complete, it is sometimes justified as a "dietary adjustment" rather than a denial of proper meals. Lawsuits regarding nutraloaf have taken place in several states, including Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington, and West Virginia. 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. 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. In April 2010, sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona won a federal judgment in favor of the constitutionality of nutraloaf. In December 2015, New York State decided to discontinue the use of nutraloaf throughout prisons statewide. In Gordon v. Barnett, the District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that although it was not cruel and unusual, nutraloaf is a punishment and that prisoners are entitled to a due process hearing before being subjected to it.
