Labor & Economy
Hell’s Kitchens: Privatized Prison Mess Halls

Remember when maggots were found in potatoes about to be served at a Michigan prison? That was just the tip of the iceberg.
A new report released this week details widespread cost-cutting by the food service company Aramark, whose contract was terminated by that state last year. Kitchens were not only unsanitary but dangerous. The company hired inexperienced staff, allowing prisoners to steal makeshift weapons and control the lunch line. Food shortages were especially common.
Michigan eventually replaced Aramark with a new contractor, but the report comes to an unambiguous conclusion: The underlying problems that ended the contract are “likely to resurface under any contract relationship.”
This is because, in a drive for profits, private corrections companies like Aramark routinely cut corners to lower costs. In private prisons, this drive often leads to more prison violence, lawsuits and staff turnover. Companies claim they’ll be more “efficient” than the government, but Michigan’s problems show that dangerous conditions, low quality food and shortages are what this efficiency really looks like.
The state’s new contractor, Trinity, isn’t doing much better.
Since taking over for Aramark last August, the company has already had 59 of its kitchen employees fired and subjected to “stop orders,” banning them from prison property for a variety of infractions. Two weeks ago nearly 1,000 prisoners at an upstate facility protested by refusing to eat food served by Trinity. Prisoners at another Michigan facility held a similar protest last Monday.
Introducing for-profit companies into America’s criminal justice system has been a bad deal for both prisoners and governments. Michigan is just the latest tragic example.

-
Latest NewsSeptember 8, 2025
MAHA Promised Healthier Kids. But School Lunches May Deliver Less.
-
Worked OverAugust 25, 2025
Forest Service Cuts Leave Firefighters Mowing Lawns While Morale Craters
-
Worked OverAugust 25, 2025
Trump’s Policies Are Adding Up to a Hostile Work Environment
-
Latest NewsAugust 20, 2025
‘How Can They Not Feed the Kids?’
-
The SlickAugust 22, 2025
Oil and Gas Forecast for New Mexico’s San Juan Basin: Going, Going …
-
Column - State of InequalityAugust 21, 2025
We Know How to Reduce Poverty — So Why Aren’t We Doing It?
-
Column - State of InequalityAugust 29, 2025
Unions Are Shrinking Nationwide — But Not in California
-
Worked OverAugust 26, 2025
ICE Raids Push Workers Into the Shadows, Disrupting the Economy