They may be dreaded criminals or guilty in the eyes of the law, but the State Prisons Department takes extra care to ensure quality food to the inmates housed in jails across Kerala.
The routine coarse wheat ball is a thing of the past as the prisoners now relish chapati, mutton curry, upma, fish fry, idli, sambar etc. by rotation during the week.
The department designs menus to meet the dietary requirements of the inmates by taking into account the nature of labour which prisoners are required to perform.
It is mandatory to record an inmate’s height, weight, and fitness level during admission in prison. By the end of their full prison term, most of the prisoners put on at least 5-8 kilograms by eating high quality and nutrient dense foods, jail authorities say.
Extra quantity for vegetarians
Prison manual mandates that vegetarian inmates are entitled to extra quantity of food to compensate the non-vegetarian diet. On days in which fish curry or mutton curry is served to non-vegetarian inmates, they get 350 and 800 grams of veggie dishes respectively.
It is the job of the prison welfare committee, which has inmates as members, to check the quality of the vegetables and groceries supplied to the jail as well as the price and quantity of the products. It will be done in the presence of jail officials.
Officials will test the quality of food before serving it to the inmates. If the food does not meet the required standards, action will be initiated against the persons concerned.
Until recently, free food was provided to inmates under the provisions of the Kerala Prisons Rules 1958. The department has introduced an array of food options for inmates after the new rules of the Kerala Prisons and Correctional Services came into force.
In total, there are 51 jails in the state, that include three central jails, 10 district jails, three open jails, 16 special sub-jails, 16 sub-jails and three women’s jails. Besides, there is the borstal school at Kakkanad near Kochi where convicts in the 18-21 age group are kept. The state exchequer spends around Rs2 crore annually to provide food to jail inmates.
Here's the weekly menu in jails across the State:
Sunday
Breakfast: A minimum of 4 Idlis or dosas, sambar and 30 ml/g tea. (100 grams of rice, 40 grams of dal per head).
Lunch: Rice, aviyal, theeyal and curd.
Dinner: Rice (200 grams per head), thoran and rasam.
Monday
Breakfast: A minimum of four chapatis and chickpeas curry (200 grams of wheat flour per head).
Lunch: Rice, pulisery and fish fry (140 grams of raw fish per head).
Dinner: Rice, thoran and rasam.
Tuesday
Breakfast: Upma and banana.
Lunch: Rice, aviyal, sambar and curd.
Dinner: Rice, thoran and green gram curry.
Wednesday
Breakfast: Chapati and chickpeas curry.
Lunch: Rice, fish curry, pulisery and aviyal.
Dinner: Rice, mashed tapioca, rasam and pickle.
Thursday
Breakfast: Upma and banana.
Lunch: Rice, sambar, aviyal and curd.
Dinner: Rice, thoran and theeyal.
Friday
Breakfast: Chapati and chickpeas curry.
Lunch: Rice, aviyal, erissery and pulissery.
Dinner: Rice, thoran and rasam.
Saturday
Breakfast: Upma and banana.
Lunch: Rice, thoran and mutton curry (100 grams per head).
Dinner: Rice, mashed tapioca, rasam and pickle.
