#Butler county jail full#
#Butler county jail code#

So, I mean, there's a spectrum between unappetizing and sickening, and I was just struck by that as I was reading about this.PITTSBURGH, PA.- An inmate at Allegheny County Jail has been indicted by a federal grand jury in Pittsburgh on a charge related to his assault of a corrections officer while in federal custody, United States Attorney Cindy K. In that case, the Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals did say that if food is sickening, it violates the Eighth Amendment. He just could not keep the loaf he was eating down and got very sick. One thing I was really struck by was the lawsuit in Wisconsin where a prisoner lost an alarming amount of weight. In the course of your reporting for this story, is there anything else that stood out to you?Įrin: I do think that the warden burger raises a lot of questions about whether food should be used as punishment. A spokesperson with the ODRC said they've never taken that kind of legal action before, and she believes it would only be used in very egregious circumstances.Ĭhris: One last question, Erin.

#Butler county jail code#

The state has never issued penalties against the Butler County Jail for serving the warden burger, and the only penalty under the Ohio administrative code that they could take would be to sue the jail in the Butler County Court of Common Pleas. He feels that he runs the jail in a way that's effective.

#Butler county jail full#

In general, you're not supposed to use food expressly for disciplinary purposes, and the menus always have to meet basic nutritional requirements and have the approval of a dietician, which I should say that the warren burger does.Ĭhris: What does Sheriff Jones make of those regulations?Įrin: He said the state prisons are overcrowded, understaffed and full of violence, and that he is not going to listen to what the state has to say until those issues are addressed.

The Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Corrections standards require that all inmates that are in jail should be served the same meal. It can really mess up your relationship with food, and it can feel dehumanizing to be served something that is expressly a punishment.Ĭhris: In Ohio, is what Sheriff Jones is doing with the warden burger legal?Įrin: The jails aren't supposed to be using warden burgers as a punishment.

She talked to me a lot about the socio-cultural and physiological impacts of using food as a punishment - that it can stay with somebody for life.

She believes that the warden burger in all its forms is absolutely cruel and unusual punishment. He told me that he actually doesn't mind eating it.Ĭhris: What do the critics of the burger say?Įrin: I did speak to Leslie Soble, who researched all kinds of prison food for this 2020 report for Impact Justice, which is a California-based nonprofit. He said it's not cruel and unusual punishment, and he doesn't think the warden burger is that bad. He said the jail doesn't have a lot of disciplinary issues, which he attributes not just to the warden burger, but to the general running of it. They serve it with two slices of bread.Ĭhris: What is Sheriff Jones's attitude about the burger?Įrin: He's very much of the mind that it's jail, that people don't get to choose what they eat, and that he's going to run the jail how he sees fit. It's mixed up and then baked at 350 degrees like a meatloaf. It's made of ground turkey, oatmeal, cabbage, and some other vegetables. It wasn't terrible, but I only had a few bites of it, and the people who have to eat it, eat it for 21 meals straight.Įrin: It's basically a meatloaf-like concoction. He invited me to come in and try it with him.Ĭhris: So you actually ate a Warden Burger?Įrin: I did. So I reached out to the sheriff, and asked if I could ask him a couple of questions about it. Transcript (edited lightly for length and clarity)Ĭhris Welter: How did you come across this story, Erin?Įrin Glynn: I found a request for a new food service contractor for the jail that listed out all the jail's usual recipes - including a recipe for the warden burger. WYSO spoke with Report for America Corps Member and Cincinnati Enquirer Journalist Erin Glynn about her reporting on the burger.

Jones has said it is approved by his jail’s dietician and meets a person’s daily nutritional needs. Some experts have said the burger should be considered cruel and unusual punishment. It’s a meal he serves inmates three times a day for seven days in a row when they are in disciplinary isolation. Jones has been grabbing headlines this month because of his so-called “warden burger.” Butler County’s controversial Sheriff Richard K.