I was in prison for two and a half years and only had one nutritious meal, but I have been in hospital a couple of times and found all the meals to be extremely good. This new report (by someone who has never been an inmate) that prison food is more nutritious than hospital food is a load of rubbish. I do recall that the one day we had a nutritious meal in prison was when the inspectors came round. The fish which was normally a piece of greyish cardboard was suddenly a white fillet, and the off colour mush became brightly coloured, crisp vegetables. Next day it was back to the slop. Even the officers estimated that less than 10% of the food budget was actually spent on food. We could only guess where the rest went. It might be that other prisons served a better menu, but I'd be surprised since each transfered inmate brought with him tales of similar diet.

I guess it is possible that things have improved dramatically, but more likely that if these researchers visited a prison the menu would be changed for the occasion to give a good impression.

I have to say that you get a sympathetic hearing from me. My experience of prison food was much the same as yours, cold, inadequate and cheap. I read often how prisoners have it easy... and how much it costs to keep someone in prison. These reports are usually written in order to keep the public at large angry about the prison population... not {as it should be} angry about the inhumane treatment of the sick {sometimes terminally} or the cramped conditions and the deprivation of liberty {unless you've tried it you don't, put bluntly, know the first thing about it}. I've read how prisons are colleges of crime. I've read that sex offenders in prison do nothing but regail each other all day with the thrills and spills of their offences. Put briefly, I've read more bollocks about life inside than I'd care to think about. None of it ever written by anyone who's ever been there. Thank Christ {among others} that here we have a forum on which it isn't tabboo to write stuff like this. I did 6 months. Everyone said I'd be as fat as a pig when I came out because I'd be so well fed. Everyone was wrong. I think they're still surprised.

I found prison food generally pretty good though awful in Belmarsh; interesting that the media are concentrating on "how dreadful that prison food is OK" instead of "how awful that hospital food is inedible".

..and more to the point why are they comparing hospital food to prison food? Why? Because they know the armchair hang 'em and flog'em brigade will be suitably outraged.

'Hospital food is better than prison food' wouldn't be a good story would it?