Interview with Aaron, Jessica, Walter, Margaret and Sherry
JM: How many meals did you get per day? Aaron: We got 3 meals per day-the first one we got at 4am, the 2nd at
10am and we ate dinner at 4pm. Jessica: 3 meals a day, breakfast lunch and dinner. Walter: 3 meals in one days, hot breakfast hot dinner
and bologna/turkey sandwhiches for lunch Margaret: WE RECEIVED 3 MEALS A DAY Sherry: You get three meals a day.
JM: How would you rate the food? Please give details of why. Aaron: The food was actually better than I thought it would be. On a scale
of 1-10 compared to other jail/institutional food that I have had in
the past I give the food there a 7 meaning pretty good but
compared to normal food it would get a 4 out of 10. Jessica: the food was horrible, little taste and no
nutrients. Walter: I would rate the food at about a 5. 5 because
they give you more in Hillsborough than in other
counties, with a little more flavor. Most
dinners can be described as slop. either slop
with rice or slop with noodles, and the worst
part is that you only get solid meat every other
week. Margaret: THE FOOD WAS NASTY, BUT IF YOU WERE HUNGRY IT
FILLED YOU UP. SOMETIMES, YOU WOULD FIND ROCKS,
OR BUGS IN YOUR FOOD, AND THEY ALWAYS SERVED
BREAD WITH EVERY MEAL. I NEVER HAD COMMISSARY
WHEN I WAS INCARCERATED, SO I ALWAYS ATE ALL MY
MEALS, AND ALL OF MY FOOD. Sherry: Breakfast was not good at all, the boiled eggs
were rubbery, the waffles were very hard, syrup
was diet and the coffee watered down,lunch is
basically the same bologne sandwitches or ham
salad and a pack of cookies, dinner was
different the food was not nutrional at all and
not enough portions.
JM: Did you have any favorite/least favorite meals? Aaron: I hated breakfast there because it always seemed we were eating
runny grits or eggs with nasty meat mixed in with them. Walter: chicken on the bone and "smoked sausage" are my
favorite meals. and the casserole meals at
breakfast that the inmates call "shank" because
it's relatively tasty as well as filling. My
least favorite meals are the terribly bland slop
meals with noodles and a specific lunch they
give us twice a week that the inmates call "cat
food". Cat food is disgusting, it's a mix of
leftover turkey ham lunch meat and boiled eggs
from the previous week cut up and mixed together
to make what the jail calls "turkey salad" Margaret: MY FAVORITE MEAL WAS THE BREADED CHICKEN
PATTIES, BECAUSE THEY WERE GOOD, AND THEY FILLED
YOU UP. LEAST FAVORITE WAS THE BOLOGNA Sherry: If I had to choose, I would say breakfast would
be my favorite, and lunch time would be the
least.
JM: Were there any other snacks offered outside of meals? What was commissary like and how expensive was it? Aaron: No unless you bought food through their commissary which I
thought was a rip-off. The only snack you could get was an
apple and a sandwich iff you were hypoglycemic or had some
form of diabetes. Yes there was commissary. It was good that
you could order via a computer kiosk in the pod as opposed to
filling in a bubble sheet with a black pen or a pencil. All that was
offered was junk food and ingredients for soup ghoulash. The
main item that was in high demand were racks of cookies which
you could trade for extra food when it was mealtime. I never
ordered from the commissary because there wasn't enough
return for the money spent. Jessica: Snacks could be bought from the commissary. Walter: Only if you have diabetes. commisary was better
than in other jails, by variety. There's stuff
on canteen for everybody. You've got sweets,
salty stuff, spicy stuff. The prices are
ridiculous though. A pack of ramen noodles that
sells 10 in a pack for little more than a dollar
on the outside costs 82 cents for just one in
jail. Margaret: THEY WOULD SOMETIMES GIVE US AN EXTRA BANANNA OR
AN APPLE, BECAUSE THEY HAD SO MANY OF THEM.
COMMISSARY WAS EXPENSIVE, BUT I WOULD TRADE MY
FREE ENVELOPES SOMETIMES FOR A RACK OF COOKIES
OR A SNACK Sherry: Commissary is like a grocery store, you could
get noodles, chips, cookies, cosemetics,
envelopes, shoes, radios, batteries,tuna, rice,
pickles, cheese, beef jerky, candy bars, and
soups and the commissary is kind of expensive,
but its good.