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91传媒

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September 21, 2016

I was binge watching the first season of “60 Days In,” a series on A&E in which a small number of citizens go into a prison as inmates for 60 days in order to give feedback to the authorities regarding what improvements to make. Some of the recommendations have to do with improving the life of the prisoners, some include intelligence on how contraband is being brought into the cell blocks, and, in one case, information included the presence of weapons.

Three things really struck me about this show. First, it drives home the many reasons why prisons in America are terrible places to live; second, it showed that life there is worse – and, in particular, more violent – for men than it is for women; and third, it depicted the use of instant ramen as currency.

I guess I’m old-fashioned, because I had thought cigarettes and drugs were still the currency in prisons. Now, it’s ramen noodles. At first, it doesn’t seem to make sense. A package of instant ramen noodles is cheap, and, in general, it’s not considered to be a high quality food item. Why would prisoners consider it to be so valuable?

The answer is simple, yet appalling. It is valuable because the prisoners are not getting enough food to eat. It is so bad that, according to , some inmates are starving to death. According to the page linked above, Maricopa County, Arizona, spends an average of 56 cents per meal per inmate. That’s right, only 56 cents. Morgan County, Alabama spends only 2 cents more.

Many prisons have commissaries from which prisoners can buy extra food to supplement their diet. On “60 Days In,” prisoners buy peanut butter, cookies, ramen, and other food items with money they have on deposit. However, for those prisoners who don’t have the means to purchase these food items, the food provided by the prison is all they have to eat.

Enter instant ramen, the non-perishable, inexpensive, single-serving food item. It becomes currency because so many people need it just to keep from slowly starving to death. Here, in America.

No, prison should not be like a resort vacation, but, I suspect, most Americans probably think prisoners at least get the proverbial “three hots and a cot,” meaning three hot meals and a cot to sleep on. Instead, some prisoners get only two meals a day, and many get only cold food for breakfast and lunch. Some have to sleep on a pad on the floor because there aren’t enough bunks. And many don’t get the number of calories they need each day to maintain their body weight.

It is unconscionable that we treat our fellow human beings this way. Yes, the prisoners were convicted of a crime, but starving people is cruel and unusual punishment, and against what our country stands for. I like ramen as much as the next person, but until it is no longer considered to be currency in prison, we as a country are falling far short of our minimum ideals.

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