I grew up in a 900 square foot house and my Dad made enough to support the family but we were far from rich.

Here are some of the "meals" we ate growing up:

Spam with American cheese grilled in the oven.

"Goulash" or as my brother called it, greasy noodle dinner. An unappetizing blend of noodles, hamburger and cheese and finally

Meatloaf. I love my Mom and she can cook decent food but her meatloaf has to be one of the most disgusting things ever produced that could be called food. I know it had meat and I think bread crumbs and I don't know what else. What's more she would cook it so long that it shrank to about half it's original size and was roughly the consistency of sun-dried shoe leather.

We had two choices about dinner in my house. Eat it or go without.

Now that I've grown up and have kids of my own I've continued this tradition. Not the spam, goulash or meatloaf but the same two choices. I like to think I'm a pretty decent cook but there are times when I make some things that aren't all that great. They can eat it or not. It't their choice.

I'm sure that's the same choice the inmates get although since they can;t look forward to a different meal the next day they probably choke it down.

Prison is not supposed to be fun. If the worst that the inmates have to endure is Nutrloaf then their getting off pretty easy. They could have to eat spam n' "cheese."

There's a difference. There are reasons for cooking economically. But have you ever made food to serve as a punishment? Even the worst-tasting concoction placed on the table was designed to nourish, not to punish.

Yeah, I was shedding tears when I read about the guy who was in prison for slitting somebody's throat and then went after the guards with homemade weapons. I surely wish I'd have known about this in time to smuggle him in a nice steak dinner. (But how would I have known how he likes it cooked? Real problem there. Maybe I'd have had to smuggle in several, cooked all different ways. Along with a vegetarian option and maybe something kosher, just in case.)

And how dare they actually try to punish these criminals in prison? That's just nuts.

Mr_A:

There's a difference. There are reasons for cooking economically. But have you ever made food to serve as a punishment? Even the worst-tasting concoction placed on the table was designed to nourish, not to punish.

No one said that Nutri-loaf was not nourishing and let's face it prison is supposed to be punishment just not "cruel and unusual" punishment which is hard to define. I mean being waterboarded or put in solitary for long periods meets my definition but I think bad tasting food is a gray area (or perhaps a gray loaf) at best.

Nutri-loaf, it seems both nourishes and punishes.