LANSING, Mich. — After months of relative quiet under a new contractor, new protests over food erupted at a Michigan prison over the weekend and early this week, a Corrections Department spokesman confirmed Tuesday.
About 1,000 of the prison's approximately 1,300 inmates staged a silent protest on Sunday at Kinross Correctional Facility, near Kincheloe in the Upper Peninsula, before a similar number refused to eat meals on Monday, Gautz told the Free Press.
The demonstrations related to complaints about the quality of food provided by Florida-based Trinity Services Group, which about eight months ago replaced problem-plagued Aramark Correctional Services, which is based in Philadelphia, as the prison food contractor.
Until these incidents, "things have been going well," Gautz said. "This is the first issue that I've seen related to food in months. They've been very responsive whenever there are issues."
But Anita Lloyd, a spokeswoman for the Michigan Corrections Organization, said the union is concerned by the scope of the protest. "It's hard to get 1,000 people to agree on anything," Lloyd said. It's very concerning that 1,000 inmates could all be upset enough about the food quality "to all take one action," and "we're glad it was peaceful this time."
On Sunday, Kinross prisoners left the yard and returned to their housing units about 20 minutes before officials normally close the yard, in a silent protest, Gautz said. On Monday, only 40 prisoners went to the chow hall for breakfast, compared to about 500 who normally go, he said. Only about 60 went to the chow hall for lunch and about 30 went for dinner Monday night, Gautz said. Each of those meals normally draws about 1,200 inmates, he said.
The warden met with Trinity officials Monday, who brought in extra staff and said they were addressing some issues about the way some new menu items were being prepared, Gautz said. Among the prisoner complaints was that one particular menu item was too watered-down or soupy, he said. Breakfast at Kinross was normal on Tuesday. Gautz wasn't sure if the issues were fully resolved but he said the protest was likely an isolated incident.
Lloyd said she heard about complaints regarding beef stew served Sunday that was particularly watery.
A Trinity spokesman could not immediately be reached.
Since it took over in August 2015, Trinity has had 59 of its kitchen employees fired and subjected to "stop orders," banning them from prison property, for a variety of infractions, Gautz said. Most of those related to over-familiarity, which can range to telephoning or writing a letter to a prisoner to engaging in sex acts, he said.
Aramark, during its first eight months in Michigan prisons, had 102 employees subjected to stop orders, Gautz said. In all, he said Aramark had 186 employee stop orders by the time the state and the company terminated the contract early, by mutual agreement.
Aramark began a three-year, $145 million contract in December 2013, replacing about 370 unionized state employees who had helped provide meals to about 43,000 prisoners at 33 facilities.
The Free Press, using Michigan’s Freedom of Information Act, documented a litany of problems under Aramark’s watch: Issues have ranged from meal shortages, to maggots in the kitchen, to smuggling of drugs and other contraband by Aramark employees, to Aramark workers engaging in sex acts with prisoners and attempting to hire one inmate to have another inmate assaulted.
Trinity's contract included several financial sweeteners and is estimated to cost the state $158.8 million over three years.
Follow Paul Egan on Twitter: @paulegan4.
