Holding out for a hot breakfast

On Feb. 1, inmates at Coyote Ridge Corrections Center in Franklin County, Wash. began a hunger strike over a multitude of issues, including the state of their breakfasts. But what West Plains locals might not know is that those breakfasts are made close to home at a prison in Airway Heights.

There, thousands of prepacked meals are made every day and shipped out across the state to other facilities. Inmates at the Airway Heights Correctional Center (AHCC) are the primary force behind the “breakfast boats,” what prisoners and Department of Corrections (DOC) staff call the cold breakfasts that have been the norm for about five years.

This year’s strike marks the second time in a year that Washington prisoners have protested over food quality. DOC spokesperson Jeremy Barclay said that inmates also wanted their weight benches re-padded and additional televisions in four-person cells, but the quality and nutritional value of the breakfasts have been a significant sticking point.

The breakfast boats consist of a muffin, a protein bar, a peanut butter and jelly packet, two slices of bread, cereal or oatmeal, powdered milk and juice. The boats are prepared and given out the night before so inmates can get up early for educational programs and work study, Barclay said. They also save time and expense for the facility, which doesn’t have to prepare and serve an entire hot breakfast line.

“They’re basically wanting to trade up for hot breakfast,” Barclay said.

AHCC has a working capacity of 2,258 male inmates and is home to the largest prisoner-employed food production facility in the state. Teams of more than 80 inmates work eight-hour shifts to produce up to 60,000 meals a week to be packaged and sent out to prisons all over Washington.

Incarcerated staff make about $1 an hour, allowing the DOC to feed nearly 18,000 state prisoners for just under $2 per meal. Inmates are in charge of ordering supplies, managing food storage and almost all other duties related to food production and packaging.

Airway Heights inmates not only prepare this food, but eat it themselves. They have not expressed any issues with the breakfasts or overall food quality, Barclay said.

Gov. Jay Inslee’s proposed two-year state operating budget includes a $2.78 million request from the DOC that would bring hot breakfasts to Coyote Ridge, Airway Heights and three other Washington state prisons.

In that budget request, the DOC admitted that it has not been in full compliance with an executive order signed by Inslee in 2013 aimed at promoting healthy foods in state facilities.

The largest reason for the lack of compliance is a lack of funds, Barclay said. According to the request, re-instating hot breakfast and achieving full compliance with the executive order requires an additional 10 contracted full-time employees and $1,413,000. 

With the added funds, the DOC says it will also be reformulating the muffins, bars and other products produced at the Airway Heights facility to increase protein content and reduce the amount of sodium, sugar and oil. It will also be increasing its use of raw chicken and raw turkey as opposed to pre-cooked, diced meats.

Corrections officials said if the hot breakfasts are not served these strikes could continue to happen. According to the request, the DOC had to increase custody staffing and make emergency purchases following the strike “to avoid a full blown riot.”

The hot breakfast would include a piece of fruit, a cup of oatmeal, a cup of potatoes and a main dish such as biscuits and gravy or a breakfast sandwich plus liquid milk, Barclay said

As of lunchtime on Monday, Feb. 19, 96 percent of Coyote Ridge inmates were back to a normal eating schedule, which is on par with the average regular count depending on the main dish being served, Barclay said.

“I don’t think we would ever expect to see 100 percent; it would be comparable to you or me or folks at a college campus eating 100 percent of the meals at a cafeteria,” Barclay said. “This is exactly what we were seeing prior to food refusal.”

Shannen Talbot can be reached at [email protected]