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<\/figure>\n\n\n\nAn incarcerated man at California State Prison Solano holds a fresh pear distributed through the Harvest of the Month program led by Impact Justice in partnership with the UC Nutrition Policy Institute. Credit: Evett Kilmartin courtesy of Impact Justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a throwaway comment, sparking unusual recognition of a throwaway topic for most Americans when discussing nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Impact Justice founder Alex Busansky was at a two-day Bay Area event in December 2017 put on by a funder of his Oakland-based nonprofit. Someone from Food Corp., a national nonprofit working for better food in middle schools, said during her presentation that some school lunches were worse than a meal in prison,\u201d Busanky said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
An idea started percolating in his head. Busansky approached her afterward and asked what she knew about prison food. She didn\u2019t know anything. Neither did he, though he\u2019d been to prisons through his regular social justice work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI talked to her and went back to my hotel room and got on Google,\u201d Busansky said. \u201cI saw no one was doing much research on prison food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He called his national campaign people and connected them with the woman from Food Corp., to find out more about their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That call was like splitting the first intellectual atoms of a nine-year chain reaction at Impact Justice<\/a>, exploding into a 2026 James Beard Foundation award<\/a> nominee for books covering food issues and advocacy. The award winner will be announced June 13 in a ceremony in Chicago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book by Leslie Soble, Alex Busansky and Dr. Aishatu R. Yusuf, \u201cEating Behind Bars: Ending the Hidden Punishment of Food in Prison<\/a>,\u201d lifts the curtain on how, and what, the penal system feeds the humans inside its walls.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s not a pretty picture.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPrisoners are purposely out of sight and out of mind,\u201d said Yusuf, Impact Justice\u2019s vice president of innovation programs. \u201cIf people saw prisons more often, it would be a bigger part of the discussion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group\u2019s interest began with a search for previous research on prison nutrition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It didn\u2019t exist, so they did their own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Two years of research produced what they called the first national study of prison food. Their 2020 report, \u201cEating Behind Bars\u201d made Impact Justice the leading national expert on prison food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Released in 2025, the book was a natural extension of the report, with additional research and solutions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the focus was on state facilities, where the highest number of the nation\u2019s incarcerated people live. From interviews with former prisoners, their families and friends, and current and former corrections officers, the authors discovered mealtimes are one of the most traumatic and humiliating aspects of incarceration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prisoners are no different than any human looking to food for comfort and sustenance, the authors say. What inmates are served is often unrecognizable slop, bereft of nutrition, in favor of ultra-processed meals high in sugar and sodium that favor shelf life over nutritional content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Prison food is heavy on carbohydrates meant to merely meet caloric standards, which vary, depending on the jurisdiction. The authors said prisoners rarely get fresh fruits or vegetables, even in industrial-scale prison farms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Much of the unpalatable food ends up in the trash, as prisoners would rather go hungry than try eating prison food. The results are malnutrition and an estimated 300,000 tons of food waste annually.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the report, former prisoners described finding maggots, body parts of rats, or cockroaches in their food.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The authors said correctional facilities control mealtimes and food access \u2014 as well as the food itself \u2014 as a form of punishment. They single out something called \u201cthe loaf<\/a>,\u201d a disgusting mash of incompatible foods presented as a meal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe book isn\u2019t laying out radical ideas,\u201d said Busansky, the president and founder of Impact Justice. \u201cPrisoners are people with the same hopes, wants and desires as the rest of us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Of formerly incarcerated people Impact Justice surveyed, 75% said they were served rotten or spoiled food in prison. More than 90% said they didn\u2019t receive enough food to feel full.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the country\u2019s roughly 2 million prisoners came from low-income areas often described as \u201cfood deserts,\u201d where access to fresh produce is limited. The food available in food deserts is often heavily processed and bought just to fill stomachs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yusuf said prisons are an opportunity for the government to educate the incarcerated \u2014 most of whom will be released and need to make food choices for themselves an their families \u2014 about nutrition and establish healthy habits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhen individuals are in prisons, they are under state care; the state is responsible for them,\u201d Yusuf said. \u201cThe decisions (prisoners) make are controlled by the state. We\u2019re just talking about simple, healthy, everyday food.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Busansky said prison food quality is a government choice. In 2024, California spent $4.20 a day on three meals for adult prisoners. By comparison, San Diego public schools spent $3.91 per child for usually one meal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe know how to feed people at scale \u2013 the military, schools, hospitals \u2013 and we do it well,\u201d Busansky said. \u201cWe don\u2019t have a constituency that fights for prisoners \u2026 We have people in prison who haven\u2019t experienced the taste of a strawberry in 17 years.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Busansky said there\u2019s plenty of anecdotal evidence that \u201cwhat you eat affects your behavior.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe don\u2019t think about the consequences of what happens in prisons,\u201d Busansky said. \u201cI know how I feel after a bad meal. Now multiply that by meal after meal, day after day.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bad nutrition also leads to more health problems like heart disease and diabetes, resulting in higher medical expenses for the state.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cEach year in prison shaves two years off someone\u2019s life,\u201d Yusuf said. \u201cIt\u2019s an important factor.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The book\u2019s first part lays out the problem. The second discusses remedies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe book is different than the report,\u201d Yusuf said. \u201cIt really focuses on solutions. Most of the solutions are new.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The group immediately began forming alliances with other organizations to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOnce you take the veil off something to people, they can\u2019t unsee it,\u201d Yusuf said. \u201cThey engage with the project, and they want to know how they can help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impact Justice\u2019s Growing Justice initiative in California and South Carolina builds vertical farms inside women\u2019s prisons to produce nutritious leafy greens and train women in indoor farming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The organization has also created programs like Harvest of the Month, a partnership with regional food hubs, UC Berkeley\u2019s Nutrition Policy Institute, and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The program has delivered more than 600,000 pounds of fresh produce to about 90,000 incarcerated people since 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Busansky said some prison systems, like California\u2019s, are open to new ideas.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere\u2019s an openness to the conversation,\u201d Busansky said. \u201cIt\u2019s usually about the funding, doing something they\u2019ve never done before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Impact Justice trains former prisoners to be food justice advocates in their communities and started a Chefs in Prisons program in Maine, which trains prisoners in culinary arts while creating better food for inmates. The model is catching on in other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe majority of people incarcerated are parents,\u201d Busansky said. \u201cIf you teach them about the benefits of nutritional food, that has an effect on generations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe ask people to do something, now that you have the information,\u201d Yusuf said. \u201cWe can\u2019t forget about the people we don\u2019t always see.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n March 2, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n June 9, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n February 5, 2026Send a note to the editors.*<\/p>\n\n\n\n Have a comment on this story? See an error that needs correcting? Have a tip, question or suggestion? Drop us a line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n 0 of 600 max charactersEmail*NamePhoneWould you like to be anonymous?NoYes<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you reply “no,” we may publish your comment in a story or newsletter under your name.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n adhicks99@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n Tony Hicks is an East Bay native who spent 22 years working for Bay Area News Group, covering crime, education and the city of Berkeley. He also worked in the features department of the Contra Costa Times,… More by Tony Hicks<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Impact Justice, a leading expert in prison food, is championing innovative improvements. Its work is captured in the 2026 James Beard Award-nominated book \u201cEating Behind Bars.\u201d by\u00a0Tony Hicks June 10, 2026 (Berkeleyside.org) An incarcerated man at California State Prison Solano holds a fresh pear distributed through the Harvest of the… Continue reading ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/oaklandside.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ImpactJustic-EatingBehindBars-Cover-1600x1067.jpg?resize=780%2C520&ssl=1\")
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