Up North Progressive

Prison inmates found maggots living in potatoes they were cutting on June 2nd at G. Robert Cotter Prison in Jackson, Michigan. The kitchen was closed and inmates were sent back to their units while the prison shut down the food line and cleaned it. All potatoes in the prison were thrown away.

This is the latest episode in a long-running series of disasters for Michigan’s new for-profit food service company, Aramark. While it’s possible, some of the maggot-infested potatoes were served to prisoners before the discovery, no one can be certain. Rick Snyder replaced the union employees that worked for Michigan’s state prison system with the for-profit company in 2013. Since then, there has been numerous problems with maggots on the serving line, not enough food, improper substitutions for food, spoiled food, and feeding inmates actual garbage.

Food problems are not the only issue plaguing Aramark. There have been problems with the staff they hired to run the prison food service. Employees have been caught bringing drugs and contraband to inmates, having sex with inmates, and even offering to murder people outside the prison for inmates. Despite the growing list of violations with the company, the state has quietly set aside fines levied on the company and Rick Snyder insists Aramark is doing a good enough job to keep their contract with the state.

For-profit companies like Aramark are supposed to save the state money by hiring scab non-union workers at lower wages. As the saying goes, you get what you pay for. Just cut open a potato to see the quality Michigan gets for its savings.