Everything that goes into a woman’s mouth in Perryville comes from this for-profit vendor. The only exception is if she’s lucky enough to have 3 food visits per year, or wealthy enough to afford fundraiser food.

Trinity is a big player in the prison industry’s “profiteers” that make money off mass incarceration. The only other serious competitors in America are Aramark and ABL Food Services.

The USDA pegs the average cost per meal on the “Thrifty Food Plan” as $3.34 per meal for an adult male. How does Trinity do it for less than half at $1.74? Small portions! We’ve written about toddler-sized meals before on this blog. The other way they cheap out is their heavy carbohydrates menu. According to one weekly menu we found, it consists of 7 servings of potatoes, 11 breads (rolls and biscuits too), and 12 servings of cake, muffins, or cookies.

If you folks out there wonder what happens to the stalks on broccoli….. rest assured it was put on your loved one’s tray in prison. Meat protein is scarcer than hen’s teeth. Prison “shmeat” is made of 75% mechanically separated poultry and 25% texturized vegetable protein.

Many inmates have tried and failed, to hold Trinity accountable for abhorrent sanitation that would get a commercial kitchen shut down anywhere else in the country. There are so many litigation hurdles for prisoners, that they fail on procedural grounds before they get to court.

So, yes, the Perryville women are hungry for justice….or just hungry.

In the Fall of 2023, Director Thornell announced a new high-level position in the DOC….Assistant Director of Women’s Affairs, Amber Marshall. Dr. Thornell realized that incarcerated women in AZ had been neglected for too long, so he created this position.

Amber Marshall has experience as an officer and is enthusiastic about her new position. The problem is, the women of Perryville have no idea she exists! There was one mass email sent out in late 2023, and Ms. Marshall has attended several Townhall meetings at various units. In our opinion, there should be posters on every bulletin board, and ways ladies can get in touch with her.

An inmate advocate who interviewed her said, “She wonders why she doesn’t hear from the women she serves.” We have a theory! The deputy wardens and staff don’t want the ladies to know about Amber…..after all, she is a direct conduit to Thornell. All units are secretive, it’s a part of their culture. We are on a mission to correct that, and have advised our sources and advocates on each unit to spread the word.