This Thesis argues that the state by contracting out prison food services to private companies and then failing to enforce basic standards has abdicated their responsibility to ensure and protect the physical and mental health of prisoners. Michigan as a case studies reveals the negligence of government to hold Aramark responsible to basic standards of feeding. As a result, leading to a wide-spread case of food-borne illness. The governments unwillingness to protect the basic human rights of prisoners under the control of privately operated prison food services has negatively impacted the health and well-being of prisoners.

This Senior Thesis in Environmental Analysis seeks to explore the ways in which certain food-oriented programs for incarcerated women and women on parole critically resist the Prison Industrial Complex and the Industrial Food System by securing social and ecological equity through the acquisition of food justice. It focuses on three case studies: the Crossroads’ Meatless Mondays program, Fallen Fruit from Rising Women: A Crossroads Social Enterprise, and Cultivating Dreams Prison Garden Project: An Organic Garden for Women in Prison. Each project utilizes food as a tool to build community, provide valuable skill sets of cooking and gardening, and educate women about the social, environmental and political implications of the Industrial Food System. Overall, the goal of this thesis is to prove the necessity of food justice programs in the criminal justice system in counteracting the disenfranchisement of certain populations that are continuously discriminated against in the industrialized systems of prison and food.