Steaking the mick! Fury as West Midlands prison offers inmates luxury meals including lamb shank, steak and salmon
27 January 2023, 09:11
A prison in Wolverhampton has sparked outrage after it emerged inmates are offered luxury meals, including four rump steaks, two lamb shanks and 1kg of lamb chops all for £35.
Inmates at the 2,100-capacity HMP Oakwood are able to order up to £50 of food every two weeks.
Menu items range from a rack of lamb and pork belly, to smoked salmon and shrimp.
The prison, which is privately run, is home to category C inmates, which includes violent criminals and murderers.
It has adopted a Ministry of Justice scheme, which aims to incentivise prisoners by offering privileges for good behaviour.
Inmates also have the option to spend their cash - which can be earned by doing jobs - on extra items, including skincare and cosmetics.
Other items on offer reportedly include facial scrub, herbal foot care cream and beard oil.
The conditions inside the prison are so nice, certain inmates feel that they don't want to leave, a source close to the prison told Birmingham Live.
He said: "The ones who don't have family or anywhere to live, they get three meals a day, they order the best cuts, their own bread, skincare, protein. They don't want to leave."
The prison's strategy is particularly misplaced, critics have argued, amid the rising cost of living, which has forced people up and down the country into using food banks.
Rory Geoghegan from the Public Safety Foundation said: "It may come as news to some prison governors and prison operators, but a prison sentence is supposed to be a punishment."
A prison spokesperson said: "Prisoners who have earned enhanced privileges from good behaviour can buy a small number of approved items with their own money.
"Those who behave poorly or breach prison rules face them being taken away."
