I’m trying to figure out where the oversight is on this alleged spending that the Virginia Department of Corrections claims they are doing.
Let’s begin with the food budget. In 2022, the General Assembly approved to give the Virginia Department of Corrections an extra $19 million (for the food budget alone) for the fiscal year of 2023-2024. Virginia D.O.C. postponed this change until the end of 2024. In claims of wanting to have enough food in stock before changing over to the new Men’s menu.
Since this new menu came out, there has been no change. The menu has gotten worse. Food services were supposedly branching away from the (mechanically separated chicken/turkey) and providing real chicken, beef, and fish products. This hasn’t happened; the only time we receive something edible is when the prison is ready to have guests, and if they do serve us, the prison population gets something edible. It is not going to be the correct serving size that the dietitian wrote out in the menu.
For example, on June 23rd, 2025, Greensville Correctional Center served chicken & gravy for the lunch meal. When I received my tray for the main course, it contained (5 oz) of gravy and (2) chicken nuggets. We, or those who cook, know that gravy is merely some cooking oil, flour, browned, mixed with water. So you understand that my lunch was (2) chicken nuggets and whatever else was on the tray, (2 oz) of vegetables.
Food service is so bad, the prisoners throw away more food than they eat, because the food is not edible. I think that everyone in food service in my cluster should be fired, the inmates and the food service supervisors, because neither of them is doing their jobs correctly. The prison claims they have 2 different food budgets because the staff eat differently from the prisoners, which is against policy, since their food expenses have always come out of the same budget. Make It Make Sense.
Next, the Recreation Department’s recreational equipment. The prison claims they’ve spent roughly $6k-$15k this year alone on recreation equipment. Where is it? We haven’t seen a football, nor any softball equipment, in years. There’s no new board games being passed out, no playing cards. Nothing is being brought, but every couple of months, they spend money on recreation supplies that we never see or use. These are your tax dollars that are being misappropriated. But the real question is, can anyone tell me where the money is going?
Submitted by GCC Inmate
Until the next time,
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