Aramark Correctional Services Creating Security Threat, Prison Officials Say

Advocates of privatizing public services promise that the magic of the free market will result in better services for fewer tax dollars, but time and again those ideological claims run headlong into reality. Private companies have to turn a profit, and that means cutting corners, paying lower wages and often failing to provide quality goods and services.

Case in point: Officials in Michigan are already regretting contracting with Aramark Correctional Services to provide food services for inmates in the state’s prison system. Early results have proven disastrous. Maggots in the kitchen and on the chow line. Workers caught smuggling contraband or engaging in sex acts with inmates.Food shortages and angry prisoners. Those are among the problems that have plagued Michigan prisons

Earlier this month, 150 prisoners at the Parnall Correctional Facility in Jackson, Michigan, fell ill with flu-like symptoms, and the prison was partially quarantined. It was unclear whether tainted food served by Aramark was responsible, but the illnesses began shortly after maggots were discovered… along a prison meal line — inches from the serving trays.

Experts say that food shortages and similar problems pose a unique security threat within prison walls. Aramark’s poor handling of a food contract was blamed for causing riots in a Kentucky prison in 2009, and issues similar to the ones Michigan officials report have cropped up in Aramark-run prison kitchens in Florida, Ohio, and Indiana.

Aramark Correctional Services is a division of the Aramark Corporation, a major supplier of food for sports facilities, hospitals, educational institutions and other businesses. Its most recent quarterly report praised corrections contracts as a primary growth area in the multinational company’s portfolio. According to the Michigan Secretary of State’s Office, Aramark spent close to $600,000 lobbying state officials over the past seven years and over $45 million lobbying federal officials over the last decade.

— by Joshua Holland

To read Joshua Holland’s complete article in Moyers & Co, click here.