Prison inmates dine on ice-cream for Sunday lunch

It’s ‘ice-cream Sunday’ for murderers, gangland bosses, and other convicts with menus from the country’s prisons showing inmates are treated to an ice-cream dessert on a Sunday.

The Irish Prison Service paid food firms €8.3m last year to provide meals to inmates.

According to a Freedom of Information request concerning the menu for prisoners during one week a March, prisoners were treated to ice-cream for dessert on Sunday, March 23, at Mountjoy, Portlaoise, Cork, Shelton Abbey, and Castlerea prisons.

The treat followed a main course of a chicken supreme with pepper sauce, turnips, and roast potatoes.

Porridge and fresh fruit were served to prisoners for Sunday breakfast, while, in the evening, inmates dined on a cheese salad roll.

The March menus show convicts receive fresh fruit every morning for breakfast, along with a cereal. Inmates had Weetabix on Tuesdays, Corn Flakes on Wednesdays, and Rice Krispies on Thursdays.

For lunch on Tuesday, March 18th, prisoners enjoyed pasta bolognese with mixed vegetables, followed by fresh yoghurt for dessert. Inmates enjoyed a turkey salad for tea.

The following day, inmates had Corn Flakes and fresh fruit for breakfast, and enjoyed coddle for lunch, made up of sliced sausages, rashers, potatoes, and onions, served along with mixed veg.

Dessert was fresh fruit, with a bun burger and coleslaw for tea.

On Thursday, prisoners were served Rice Krispies and fresh fruit, and for lunch enjoyed pork curry and rice, along with mixed veg.

Dessert was fresh yoghurt, and later they had scrambled egg and grilled tomato for tea.

Prisoners will not run short of bread either.

That staple is not included in the menus provided, but separate figures provided by the Department of Justice show that last year, the Irish Prison Service paid a total of €390,000 to two bread companies, with Johnston Mooney & O’Brien receiving €224,985 and Pat the Baker €165,681.

The average daily prison population for 2013 was 4,158, and it costs around €65,000 per prison per year to accommodate inmates.

The costs of providing meals to inmates is resulting in a boon to a small number of food suppliers.

Limerick-based Pallas Foods Ltd got €2.48m, with Glanbia Consumer Foods receiving €1.797m.

Two other firms to receive over €1m included Horeca Foodservices (€1.4m) and Crossgar Foodservice (€1.1m). Firms that received over €100,000 were Richardsons (€236,861) and Fresh ‘N’ Ready Vegetables (€110,359).