e convict has bread, molasses and coffee. The principal
objection to this diet is its monotony. Whenever a change of diet
becomes a strict necessity, the prisoner is permitted to take a few
meals in the hospital dining-room. Here he receives a first-class meal.
This is a capital idea. A great deal of sickness is prevented by
thus permitting the convict to have an occasional change of diet. On
holidays, such as Thanksgiving day, Christmas, etc., an extra dinner is
given, which is keenly relished by all. I have before me a statement of
the expenses for a Sunday breakfast and dinner. There are only two meals
given on Sunday. The hash was made up of 612 pounds of beef, 90 pounds
of bacon, and 30 bushels of potatoes. Fifty-one pounds of coffee were
used, and four and a half barrels of flour. The entire meal cost $68.38.

For dinner, 1,585 pounds of beef, 30 bushels of potatoes, and 4 1/2
barrels of flour, were used. This meal cost $100.61. It costs about ten
cents each a day to feed the prisoners. Some of the convicts, after they
get their daily tasks performed, do overwork. The contractors pay
them small sums for this extra labor. With this money the convict is
permitted to purchase apples from the commissary department, which he
can take to his cell and eat at his leisure. The commissary keeps these
apples on hand at all times in packages, which he sells to the prisoners
at twenty cents each. In prison, apples are the most healthful diet the
inmate can have. Should friends on the outside desire to send delicacies
to any of the prisoners, they are permitted to receive the same, and,
taking them to their cells, eat at their leisure. These luxuries are
highly appreciated by the men in stripes, whose daily food is largely
made up of hash and corn bread. The female prisoners must subsist on the
same kind of food as the males. In some penal institutions, Kansas for
example, the women have better diet than is furnished the men. Not so in
this penitentiary. All are treated alike, so far as food is concerned.

Three times each day the men march into the large dining-hall, which
accommodates 1,500, and partake of their meals. The tableware is of tin
and somewhat meager. The tables themselves present the appearance of the
modern school-desk, being long enough that twenty men may be comfortably
seated at each. No table-linen is used. When eating, the convict is not
permitted to call for anything he may wish. When a dish is empty it is