The following letter was sent to Missouri Prison Reform by residents of Jefferson City Correctional Center regarding the kitchen and dining halls. Some edits were made for clarity. We’ve recently heard from several residents that food is usually cold and spoiled as well and they continue to be served bologna frequently. Things are only better if Aramark leadership is actually on site.
“I am writing this letter on behalf of the JCCC community in regards to the unsanitary condition of the dining halls as well as the filthy trays that our food is being served on. At any given time our trays are being served to us with any number of problems from standing water, to hair, to left over food remnants as well as a brown residue that comes off on your fingernails when you scratch at it since they are not being cleaned properly. we have addressed these issues through custody, classification,food service, offender council meetings,global leadership meetings and the front office. we know that the dishwashers are broken down and we’ve been told several times that they are going to get them fixed, but that is not solving the problem at hand for the time being. many people are reporting symptoms of gastrointestinal infections ranging from slight to severe. many of these are attributed to H. Pylori. (Helicobacter Pylori) H. Pylori is a bacteria that penetrates t lining of the stomach and causes many infections. the number of infections this causes is enormous. this is a gateway bacteria allowing many other types of infections to dorm, such as ulcers, gastritis, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular and certain neurological disorders. H. Pylori is contagious and is transmitted by standing or contaminated water or person to person. the spread of hepatitis A, B and C is also possible due to the unsanitary conditions of the dining halls and the food trays. not only is this affecting the health side, but also the religious side, as well as the side of people with food allergies. some religions abstain from eating certain foods and yet the trays are cross contaminated. people with food allergies are subject to severe allergic reactions. by not keeping e trays clean and sanitized, you negligently leave food residues on the trays that could potentially harm others. this is a serious matter that needs to be addressed. should we notify Aramark? Central office? Or maybe the media? maybe we can fix is ourselves for the time being until t dishwashers are fixed, but it will require that staff put in an effort to allow us to fix this ourselves. we are aware that PC is doing the g.I. crew. maybe they would like to volunteer more people to hand scrub all the food trays at night and maybe bleach them. if not guys from PC, maybe members of the global leadership, or the IN2WORK trainees. we know there are many of the offenders who would like to help with this issue and would be willing to help out on their own time. just ask for volunteers from the GP or PC and you will find many people who will step up and help. please get the dining halls and our food trays clean and sanitized and get the dishwashers fixed since we all know that medical is not going to help us if we become severely ill. JCCC COMUNITY”
