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Meals

Interview with Joe, Walter, Wendy, Ella and Annie

JM: How many meals did you get per day?
Joe: 3
Walter: We would get 3 meals per day
Wendy: There were three meals per day served.
Ella: Three meals are served each day.
Annie: 3 small meals 6am noon and 5pm

JM: How would you rate the food? Please give details of why.
Joe: sick
Walter: The food is terrible, I lost a lot of weight when I was in jail. It is bad just due to the quality of ingredients that they use. Lots of trading and negoating go on at meal time. Guys are always trading things for food. I would get a lot of stuff as I would trade out the majority of my meals. I stuck to the fruit that we typically got with our meal.
Wendy: The food was actually not that bad. I would liken it to school cafeteria food. Iceberg lettuce salads with dressing packets, pasta and sauce, sometimes a weird, unrecognizable "meatloaf". Breakfast was good, in my opinion. They offered cold cereal or oatmeal, milk (which the kid in line always gave me two of!), toast with jelly packets, and juice. They had hot breakfast of eggs or pancakes sometimes, too.
Ella: The one draw back of Lino Med. Security was the food had a lot to be desired. A factor could be because a trustee or jail inmate do some of the prep work and help prepare the meals and serve them for a small wage. The changing of people in the kitchen making the food and the simple fact it's jail seem to be the 'why'
Annie: I would rate the food a 5 due to poor cooking and no variety, and the portion sizes. It was usually served to us cold and was some form of leftovers we were served within the last two to three days. bland! Bad small portions and starchy foods mostly bread

JM: Did you have any favorite/least favorite meals?
Joe: bologna sandwiches
Walter: Nothing really comes to mind, it was all gross so I really tried to eat as little as possible of their meals. When I was in the workhouse, I would go out to eat so I didn't have to eat their food
Wendy: The breakfasts, definately. I got whatever protein they served, toast, cereal and milk, and and milk and juice almost every day.
Ella: I do not recall any favorite or least favorite meals at Lino. All were equally bad and had virtually no taste.
Annie: No, all the meals were pretty much the same. Mostly made up of bread and potatoes with veggies and a small salad.

JM: Were there any other snacks offered outside of meals? What was commissary like and how expensive was it?
Joe: if you have canteen money
Walter: No jail provided snacks outside of the 3 meals we got. There was commissary but I really didn't utilize it so I am not sure what the cost was. The prices didn't look unreasonable. Lots of guys had candy bars and ramen noodles from the commissary.
Wendy: Yes, you could purchase snacks through concessions. You could really get anything - chips, crackers, fruit snacks, candy, microwave popcorn, Ramen noodle soup cups are the most popular item - I never at those things until I was in jail, and I actually still buy them sometimes!
Ella: Yes I think all jails offer some sort of canteen list to purchase personal hygiene or food items if you have the money in your account. There was a fairly good selection and the prices were average.
Annie: Canteen lists offer high priced snacks and junk food, but the three meals are all you have to eat if you don't have any money on your books, not really enough for a grown adult.

Read about inmate access to medication in the Anoka County Jail