Indiana awarded the food service contract for the Indiana Dept. of Corrections to Aramark Corporation. The estimated savings will reduce meals from 1.41 per meal to $0.99 per meal. The Indy Star has an article entitled: Prisons go to the 99-cent menu.
Daniels and [DOC Commissioner J. David] Donahue said neither quality nor nutritional value will be sacrificed. And, they said, the ARAMARK contract won’t necessarily result in DOC employees losing their jobs.
Well, as long as they say so. The main thing is to have some sort of quality control. Government contracts with private providers to supply food to captive populations hasn’t always worked out so well. Rancid meat being supplied to Indian reservations comes to mind.
The only thing I know about Aramark is that they were recently hit with a $105 million verdict because one of their beer vendors at Giants Stadium sold beer to an extremely intoxicated fan after the 3rd quarter last call. (The vendor had also apparently sold the fan 6 beers at half-time which is in excess of the 2 beer per purchase limit.) The fan drove away from the stadium and turned a 7 year old into a quadriplegic. Allegations were that the fan bribed the employee for the special treatment.
I have no idea if the New York Giants vending situation is at all representative, but in a prison setting, there ought to be steps to make sure that Aramark employees are properly trained and paid well enough so that bribes aren’t overly tempting.
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