The nutritional content of male prisoners' diet in the UK

Abstract

The Prison Catering Service has changed from a Ration Scale to a pre-select menu system as the basis for providing prisoners' meals. The purpose of this research was to ascertain how this may have affected male prisoners' nutritional intake. Using a modified visual estimation technique, the dietary intake of 506 prisoners (mean age 35 years, height 1.77 m and weight 78.03 kg) in eight prisons was estimated for a 24-h period. Results show that overall, the mean nutrient intake from food provided by HM Prisons (2561 kcal; 10.77 MJ) fell within current recommendations. However, in four prisons, energy intake was below the recommendations as were a small number of micronutrients (vitamin A, vitamin B₂, vitamin C and calcium, one prison each; and vitamin D, in all prisons) from the food provided. The mean percentage of energy provided from total fat (36%) was just in excess of the recommendation of 35% and similar to the National average. There is little evidence to suggest that the ‘new’ system has any detrimental effects on prisoners' nutritional intake.