Prisoners need better food

To the editor:

A few years ago at the Florence, Ariz., rent-a-prison, inmate kitchen workers discovered cases of food labeled “not for human consumption.” Similar problems came up at Eloy (Ariz.) and now Hudson rent-a-prisons.

Young men are coming out of these rent-a-prisons unable to do any heavy physical labor. They appear to be healthy, but they have little impact strength and very little endurance — practically unemployable.

This is, in effect, punishment in excess of their crimes and against public interest.

Much of the blame falls on the “No Frills Bill.” The bill reads that Alaska prison food budgets shall not exceed 90 percent of military in Alaska.

Alaska’s Department of Corrections reads this as having no lower limit, to the point of allowing rent-a-prisons to feed inmates for less than the cost of feeding the family pet.

However, a strong case can be made for this bill to be read as both no greater and no less than 90 percent.

It is a rule of legislative construction that whenever the language of a bill sets only a maximum, or a minimum, then that standard automatically defaults to become both the maximum and the minimum.

You can persuade your legislator to read the “No Frills Bill” as it should be read.

Joseph James

Hudson Correction Facility

Hudson, Colo.