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HM INSPECTORATE OF PRISONS Report on HM Prison Barlinnie
8. SERVICES
Catering
8.1 Catering is managed by one Residential Manager, two First Line Managers, eleven Catering Officers and one Stock Control Administrator. On a daily basis there are five day shift staff, one long back shift and one short back shift. In addition there is a stock controller, driver of the delivery trolley and managerial cover. The trolley driver is covered on a rotational basis from the generic establishment driver complement. Recently there have been problems covering catering officer posts because of staff absence. This has been a particular problem at weekends.
8.2 The kitchen employs 52 prisoners. The work is divided into a day shift of 40 prisoners who work between 8am and 5.30pm and a cleaning party of 12 prisoners who work from 6pm until 8pm. The kitchen undertakes its own training programme which consists of elementary food hygiene, manual handling and first aid.
8.3 The kitchen has not been upgraded in the last few years and some of the equipment was reaching the end of its usefulness. Old and broken trolleys lay in a back store, and hot plates within the kitchen were used without being connected to the power supply, as the heating element was broken beyond repair. In general the kitchen, although clean, was run down and the facilities should be upgraded.
8.4 Barlinnie uses a plated meal system, which means that most hot meals are made up in the kitchen then sealed in a plastic container and transported to the different residential areas on a motorised trolley. When staff shortages occur, food is sent to the residential areas in bulk where it is issued directly to the prisoners.
8.5 Meal times are as follows:
Breakfast 07.45-08.15
8.6 A continental breakfast is provided six days a week consisting of cereal, milk and a roll. A "breakfast bag" for each prisoner is made up and distributed to the different areas the night before, where it is stored until being issued door to door first thing the following morning. On one day at the weekend all prisoners are given the opportunity to have a bowl of porridge and a boiled egg as an alternative.
Lunch 12.45-13.15
8.7 A two course lunch is served daily consisting of a main course and a dessert. There were two choices available at the time of inspection with a plan to increase this to three the following week.
Dinner 17.45-18.15
8.8 A two course dinner is served daily consisting of soup and a roll or bread, followed by a main course. A pastry or piece of fruit is also provided at this time. There were three choices available each day: two in plated meal trays, the third being a hot filled roll. At weekends the dinner is always a cold option with a bridie, sausage roll or pie.
8.9 A rotational issuing system exists in each residential area for lunch and dinner, so all prisoners have an opportunity to get first choice at some point. Inevitably, those last on any given day have very limited choice, if any. Diets are catered for within the choices and where necessary special diets are sent to the residential areas in different coloured trays for easy identification. As discussed elsewhere in this report, a number of ethnic minority prisoners had lost confidence in the catering arrangements in terms of whether the food met their religious or cultural requirements.
8.10 During the inspection the catering process was monitored on several occasions from preparation to serving. The quality of food was tested in the kitchen, as well as at the point of serving. In the kitchen, prior to going into the trolleys for transportation the hot food was well above the required temperature. Given the comments above on the kitchen facilities the general quality of the food leaving the kitchen was good. By the time it reached the Halls that was not always the case. Some areas had hot plates and the trays were transferred into these to keep them warm on arrival. Even so, the food became soggy but it was generally hot and acceptable. In other areas where there were no hot plates, the food was colder, very soggy and very unappetising. This is not helped by the time it takes to complete the process and it was not unusual for the last few prisoners to receive their meals two hours after they had been put in the trays. Portion control was also a problem. Individual trays of stew were observed to contain as few as two or three pieces of meat.
8.11 On both the Saturday and Sunday of the Inspection, the plated system was not used due to staffing problems. Bulk food was transported to the Halls: Halls which are clearly not geared up for this. Problems included containers being too big for hot plates, food being served on landings to help speed up the process, which causes considerable risks in terms of health and safety and basic hygiene. Paradoxically, prisoners preferred this system because the portions were bigger. A particular concern at the weekends was the arrangement for evening meals. For reasons of convenience prisoners were issued a cold evening meal consisting of soup, a roll, a scotch pie or bridie, crisps, cheese, jam, biscuits and a piece of fruit. This meant that there was a gap from lunchtime on Saturday to lunchtime on Sunday between proper hot meals, and the same again Sunday to Monday. The reason given was the time it takes to get the food trays back to the kitchen for cleaning and preparing for the next day. This is an unacceptable gap between hot meals and the system should be changed without delay.
8.12 Feedback from prisoners and staff, as well as the June 2002 'Prisoner Survey' also indicated dissatisfaction with the food. The survey indicated:
The choice of menu - 81% said fairly or very bad.
The size of portions - 79% said fairly or very bad.
The quality of food - 80% said fairly or very bad.
8.13 Given this situation, complaints through the CP system about food were relatively rare, (only three in the period Jan-April 2003). This may be a result of prisoners' lack of confidence in the complaint procedure, low expectations of what to expect from the kitchen in the first place or general apathy. It is recommended that a system of transportation and storage is introduced which retains the heat and quality of the food between point of cooking and point of serving.
Laundry
8.14 The laundry employs up to 25 prisoners and is staffed by two officers and a first line manager. The equipment is in good order apart from one washing machine which had been out of order for 18 months, the reason given for that was that no money was available for its replacement. The laundry processes in the region of 30,000 items per week and was working effectively.
Canteen
8.15 There are two canteen systems in place: one for untried and one for convicted prisoners. For untried prisoners in 'C' Hall, part of 'A' Hall and young remands in 'D' Hall there is the traditional 'over the counter' system. Prisoners have access three times a week, there was a good range of goods on offer and prisoners expressed satisfaction with the arrangements.
8.16 Convicted prisoners have access to the canteen once a week, using the 'bag and tag' system. Prisoners were satisfied that the system was quick, efficient and working well. There is a good range of reasonably priced goods available, although additional toiletries could be added to the list.
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