An Open Letter to Trinity Services Group of Oldsmar, Florida.

To whom it may concern:

Your company serves meals to my private prison up here in Northwest Florida. I'm a diabetic vegetarian on what Florida Department of Corrections' Medical department calls a 2,600 Calorie diet, which has been amended slightly to provide the alternate, no-meat entrée at each meal. A no-meat entrée is a required offer at all facilities under FDC guidance or control in order to meet the dietary or religious needs of people behind the concertina wire; my need is considered religious in nature, and my diet was ordered as such by Medical.

Our facility lacks a chow hall, so I rely on Food Services and a system of orderlies pushing open air carts of interlocking trays through the birds and the rain to deliver my three daily meals without meat.

Let me ask you this, with preemptive apologies for potato quality photos -- the only camera I have access to is a 720p webcam set to 0.3 megapixels at best, bolted to a wall inside a knockoff airport kiosk from two decades ago:

• Have you begun serving vegetarian-friendly hot dogs in Florida private prisons?
  I cast severe doubt for a multitude of reasons, but please do answer that question.

• Can anyone spot the protein on this tray?
  2600 Calorie diets are required to be served a protein at all meals, as confirmed by a previous Food Services Director right here at this facility.

• Why has the option to request an alternate, no meat entrée been removed wholesale from all of the dorms, for everyone not in Confinement on the compound?
  Given that animal proteins typically cost more than most of the basic vegetarian alternatives, allowing more people the opportunity to elect to go meatless and receive their meal should actually provide your company a cost savings.
  You're also revoking a right to self-select a non-meat entrée that belongs to we justice-impacted many, delivering a message of "Eat this slop or starve."

• Speaking of slop, what's the deal with these meals? Your company lost the Hillsborough County Jail contract at the end of November 2022, because your food quality had degraded to the point of serving unpalatable literal slop to detainees four times a week. I'd know: I lost 40 pounds in a little over four months dealing with those meals.
  Why are you trending toward restarting that habit here in the Florida Department of Corrections, at least as seen at this camp?

I would like to make suggestions here:

• Work toward convincing the Florida Department of Corrections to allow for an improved Alternate Entrée Menu that adds food items like a house-made bean and oat burger, tofu scrambles and stir-fries, and tempeh.

• For items that need to be purchased (like tofu, unless you are making this in-house), look for 'seconds', which generally do not meet a visual quality threshold but are otherwise fine. Because you are not likely needing massive quantities, your company can do good by local or semi-local vendors by injecting cash into their operations with these purchases. Give to the local communities that serve as homes for our residency.

• Remove the artificial difficulty in requesting an alternate entrée for those who do not have a medically ordered diet. That means make it easy for someone to elect to not eat meat if they do not want to eat meat.

• Quit. Do not sign that contract again if your company cannot remember that we are humans first, deserving of a shred of dignity and respect as we try to rehabilitate and repent for the mistakes we have made in our past. Let someone else come in and do the job, and go where your heart takes you.

Thank you for your time and patience, and for any responses you might consider offering. I can be reached through my maintainer at an email address on the About page.

/s/Jayel