Routine becomes a necessity while serving a prison sentence. Our day always begins with an early wake up for a head count. It is challenging to have a healthy diet in jail as the price to be healthy is unaffordable and the ability to purchase vegetables for the majority is unattainable. For breakfast we are provided with several slices of bread and a handful of cereal. You would have to starve yourself if you are trying to lose weight.
For lunch, on weekdays we are given more slices of bread with two thin slices of meat, either chicken loaf, beef or salami - which actually isn’t salami but apparently called devon. And just a handful of leaf mix. On the odd occasion we would have boiled eggs instead of meat, and on the extremely rare occasion, a few slices of cheese are given.
On weekends we receive a hot lunch which is either soggy pies or sausage rolls, yum. For dinner we receive a hot meal which is a rotation of either diced beef, Maryland chicken or minced beef. Friday dinners there is an all time favourite, soggy fried basa fish and roast potato - which is meant to be chips but hasn’t been for years under unknown reasons.
On Sundays we are provided roast beef and roast potato for dinner. We are also able to apply for vegetarian or the healthy choice option. Healthy choice dinner meals are a rotation of chicken breast, beans or tuna with salad. There is meant to be a four week rotation in the menu but most of the meals are the same and often repetitive.
We can also purchase two frozen meat packs a week and can cook it ourselves. The options to pick from are: chicken breast, economy porterhouse steak (which has the same thickness as a pen), pork ribs, salmon, lamb chops, pork chops or kosher chicken breast. We also purchase from the canteen once a week, but the canteen doesn’t have a fridge so they can’t get any other healthy options or anything cold. We can purchase eggs and cereal but mainly confectionary. We cannot purchase vegetables.
Routine becomes a necessity while serving a prison sentence. Our day always begins with an early wake up for a head count. It is challenging to have a healthy diet in jail as the price to be healthy is unaffordable and the ability to purchase vegetables for the majority is unattainable. For breakfast we are provided with several slices of bread and a handful of cereal. You would have to starve yourself if you are trying to lose weight.
For lunch, on weekdays we are given more slices of bread with two thin slices of meat, either chicken loaf, beef or salami - which actually isn’t salami but apparently called devon. And just a handful of leaf mix. On the odd occasion we would have boiled eggs instead of meat, and on the extremely rare occasion, a few slices of cheese are given.
On weekends we receive a hot lunch which is either soggy pies or sausage rolls, yum. For dinner we receive a hot meal which is a rotation of either diced beef, Maryland chicken or minced beef. Friday dinners there is an all time favourite, soggy fried basa fish and roast potato - which is meant to be chips but hasn’t been for years under unknown reasons.
On Sundays we are provided roast beef and roast potato for dinner. We are also able to apply for vegetarian or the healthy choice option. Healthy choice dinner meals are a rotation of chicken breast, beans or tuna with salad. There is meant to be a four week rotation in the menu but most of the meals are the same and often repetitive.
We can also purchase two frozen meat packs a week and can cook it ourselves. The options to pick from are: chicken breast, economy porterhouse steak (which has the same thickness as a pen), pork ribs, salmon, lamb chops, pork chops or kosher chicken breast. We also purchase from the canteen once a week, but the canteen doesn’t have a fridge so they can’t get any other healthy options or anything cold. We can purchase eggs and cereal but mainly confectionary. We cannot purchase vegetables.
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Congratulations on the launch of About Time. I can only imagine how many obstacles you have navigated to successfully sail the product into Australia’s prisons, and from where I sit it was very warmly received by the inmates, security and medical staff that I share time with. Well done, and thank you for delivering us something we didn’t know we needed until we received it!
Around a month ago, our prison was supplied with several copies of your newspaper in our rec room and they were an instant hit!
I write to extend feedback – re: your monthly paper. I must say that it was with more than the usual measuring spoon of interest that most here @ MRC welcomed its arrival. Upon finding it in our respective mailboxes, it caused a stir. A tad like the discovery of gold in Ballarat: a freakin buzz!
Hi there, my name is Chris and I sit here, again, in P.P.P. with another sentence, with old feelings of loss or sadness. I just had my 39 year old birthday, again thinking about how many I’ve done being locked up.
About Time Media acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands across Australia and particularly acknowledges the Wurundjeri people of the Kulin nation, traditional owners of the land on which About Time Media is based.
We acknowledge the continuing impacts of the criminal legal system on First Nations people, including disproportionate rates of incarceration and deaths in custody, which remain a national shame.
We pay deep respect to Elders past and present, and all families of those who have lost loved ones in prison.
© About Time Media Ltd.
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