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The purchase of more than 9,000 euros in luxury foods such as steaks, serrano ham and chocolate in an Irish prison is being investigated according to a report from the state spending regulator.
Purchasing high-value food for prison kitchens is against Prison Service policy, but a Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) report on prison food service highlighted spending on an unnamed facility .
The food is said to have been purchased for inmate cooking classes, but the Irish Prison Service has not been able to be definitive as to what activity was taking place or whether “there were official events for the use of some of the products listed.”
The C&AG has examined the catering service for prisoners’ meals, staff dining committees and prison shops.
Overall, the Irish Prison Service spent € 8.2 million on food for its prison population in 2019.
The cost of food per day for prisoners ranged from € 4.54 per inmate at Wheatfield Prison to € 7.27 per inmate at Portlaoise Prison.
Spending on luxury food was discovered as part of the restaurant training program review.
Meals in prison are prepared by prison staff and inmates who are trained in food preparation.
The C&AG report says that in most prisons the type of food purchased for home economics courses was similar to what was used to prepare prison meals.
There are situations where additional food may be purchased that is not on the approved product list, but it is not Prison Service policy that high-value food should be used in prison kitchens or classrooms.
The report says that in one prison the products purchased included luxury items such as “steaks, roast ribs, boneless leg of lamb, prosciutto and expensive catering chocolate.”
It adds: “The governor of the prison in question has now begun an investigation to determine the circumstances surrounding the expense.”
The cost of such items purchased from the prison amounted to € 9,302 during 2018 and 2019 and it was reported that they were “used to support the provision of cooking classes to prisoners.”
However, the C&AG report adds: “it has not been possible since the returns of the labor training activity to the headquarters of the Penitentiary Service to be definitive about what activity was being developed or if there were official events attended for the use of some of the products listed ”.
Since then, additional controls have been put in place around ordering, reports C&AG.
The Irish Prison Service has accepted a recommendation from C&AG that all food purchased for training purposes “must be ordered from approved vendors, at contractual prices and reflect the educational objective of teaching basic cooking skills and nutritional values to prisoners.
“Any exception must be approved in advance, at the appropriate level.”
Online editors
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