Do Vegetarians Get Special Meals at the Jail?
May 7th, 2010 by josh farleyThe short answer is no. But there’s some explanation involved.
A woman was doing time at the Kitsap County jail for stealing a Bainbridge woman’s purse recently. She grew up vegetarian, her husband says — that is, she isn’t a vegetarian by choice, but rather her body literally rejects meat.
“It makes her violently ill because her body cannot process it,” her husband told me, adding that during her 90 day stint on the inside, she lost weight and survived on only “cake, candy, junk food and once in awhile they have steamed vegetables and a small salad.”
I made a phone call to the sheriff’s office to ask about it last week.
“We try to accomodate them as much as is practical,” said Kitsap County Sheriff’s spokesman Scott Wilson. “But we don’t go and get special vegetarian meals.”
Those with certain medical conditions, along with inmates whose religions mandate certain diets, do get special meals, Wilson said.
But when it comes to vegetarians, Wilson said the best they can do in jail is avoid the meat and get extra helpings of vegetables and starches.
There are some prisons and jails around the country that actually cater to vegetarian dietary needs. But Kitsap isn’t one of them.
Tags: Kitsap County jail, vegetarians
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May 7th, 2010 at 4:25 am
How “vegetarian” was she when she stole a “leather” purse? Was she just “saving a cow”?
May 7th, 2010 at 7:53 am
You have got to be kidding. Port orchard jail don’t care if they are vegetarians or not. If fact they don’t even give you your medication your suppose to be on. The jail treats you like crap. Someone needs to look at the treatment inmates get, cause if really stinks.
May 7th, 2010 at 7:58 am
You have got to be kidding. Port Orchard jail don’t care if your a vegetarian or not. They don’t even give you your medication your suppose to be on. They just don’t care. Someone needs to look into how the inmates are treated cause in my opinion, it sucks.
May 7th, 2010 at 8:10 am
I think that maybe now, she will think twice about stealing purses…one can only hope. Jail is supposed to be a deterrant.
May 8th, 2010 at 2:53 am
Well!!! If that is how the jail treats its’ inmates, I think I will take MY vacation somewhere ELSE! It just seems so UNFAIR that a person can go to all that trouble to go to jail, only to be treated like a common criminal!
May 9th, 2010 at 10:37 am
The answer is simple Kat – clean up your act & stay out of jail. It isn’t supposed to be Club Med.