Colorado's New Prison Makes Inmates Ill

The new maximum security prison in Canon City administers its own brand of extreme justice by knowingly feeding its inmates uncooked food.
Last week Correctional Officers at the Centenial Correctional Facility served over 120 prisoners uncooked pizza. According to prison employees speaking on the condition of anonymity, the pizza was purposely cooked for only a few minutes before being brought to the serving line and put into trays to be served to inmates in solitary confinement.

When servers brought the uncooked food to the attention of the kitchen supervisor, Lt. Tom Crawford, he replied, ''Fuck'em, that's what they get." Hundreds of inmates sent the food back choosing to go without dinner rather than eating the unhealthy food. Several inmates expressed displeasure with their treatment by writing notes to the staff on the lids of the styrofoam containers. One inmate wrote, "Have some respect, we're still humans in here."

The uncooked pizza was not an isolated event, less than a week later the prison served uncooked beans. According to kitchen workers, Crawford emptied several boxes of baking soda into the pot to soften the beans and reduce the cooking time. ''The beans looked like brick mortar and tasted like baking soda," said a cook. The beans were later served to the inmates on Crawford's orders.

Uncooked food is not the only problem in the over budget prison. Shortly after opening the kitchen's dish washing machine had to be turned off due to faulty ventilation and improper welding. The construction error has caused CDOC to spend thousands of dollars a week on environmentally hazardous disposable styrofoam trays.

The controversial $165 million prison opened in August with $10 million in additional state funding - in a year when education was cut by $260 million. Many, including state legislators from Pueblo, saw the abusive prison as a jobs program for the under educated population and economically depressed southern Colorado.

The maximum security prison, one of three in the complex, keeps inmates in solitary confinement and only allows them out of their cells for an hour each day. Some inmates are kept confined like this for years. This form of incarceration is condemned by human rights groups and most of Western Europe who consider the practice cruel and inhumane treatment.