Prison Cuts Out Lunches 3 Days A Week

PLAINFIELD, Ind. -- An Indiana prison no longer serves lunches to inmates on Fridays and weekends in what it contends is an efficiency move designed to free up more time for classes and recreation.

The Plainfield Correctional Facility, west of Indianapolis, went to the reduced meal schedule last month.

Spokesman Kevin Mulroony said the facility hasn't received many complaints, and that two square meals a day provides 2,500 calories, the same as three meals.

But lawmakers and a civil libertarian are concerned. Republican Mike Delph, of Carmel, chairs the state Senate's corrections subcommittee.

He said denying food or cutting back on meals to prisoners is beneath the dignity of the state of Indiana.

Elizabeth Alexander, of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Prison Project, said eliminating lunches creates a long gap between meals.

Joe Fistrovich, chief financial officer of the Indiana Department of Correction, said the move isn't a cost-saving measure, but is intended to save time.