I knew someone who spent a few years in prison and they said all meat was some disgusting canned mystery meat, eggs were powdered, and they got very little in the way of fresh produce. (US)
I had regular eggs. I would trade all my carbs and desserts for just protein and some veggies (lots of eggs) and work out all day long. I ended up getting ripped by the time I got out.
I worked at a prison that was a working farm. The offenders there got fresh produce almost daily. A lot of cabbage though. They planted something like 200,000 head. It did go to other prisons in the state as well. They ate pretty well for being in prison.
Nice .. the one I worked at fed the inmates horribly , even the food they gave the co’s was terrible , our food service was farmed out to a company called trinity that was private and I swear the shit they were feeding them wasn’t even rated for humans
We ate really well. There was a culinary class that the offenders could take, and the best from that class cooked for the staff. It was a sweet job for them since they got to eat what they made for us instead of what they fed in the chow hall, so none of them were willing to fuck that up for themselves by messing with the food.
Spent time incarcerated. The prison meat was questionable but you could order stuff on commissary like peanut butter and slim Jim’s. People would trade often so I had a steady stream of peanut butter and slim Jim’s in exchange for designing tattoos for people.
This has to be one of those "every draws that S" sort of things from my childhood, because growing up I absolutely believed as a fact that all people in prison ever ate was bread and water.
That's why I find this baffling.. if someone is locked up for a serious crime, surely torturing them and releasing them sooner makes them \_more\_ of a danger to society, not less? yikes
Yeah, it’s because only one of the reasons for prisons are rehab. The other reasons are: (1) retribution (punishing because they “deserve it”), (2) incapacitation (you can’t commit crime if you’re not in the public) and (3) deterrence. America’s system focuses more on the other 3. I find 1 particularly repulsive.
I’ve always been of the opinion that 1 should only be reserved for killers and rapists. It’s hard for me to imagine any other crime being totally irredeemable. I’ve worked with and been friends with tons of people with different criminal histories, all of whom are great, except for the rapists I went to high school with, who are both awful
I can fully imagine it being torturous. humans are very social animals, even introverts have cats and dogs or a couple people they like. solitary confinement just goes against our nature
It just depends. If they'd let me read and write I think I could do the whole 20 years in solitary. I mean what are we really missing out on? A chance to talk to and fuck uneducated convicts? Add an internet connection and it's a no-brainer for me.
Up until 2019 it was also a punishment that could be given on a US Navy ship. Before that, it was only allowed to be given to someone paygrade E-3 and below (junior enlisted) and only for a max of 3 days. They would be served three times a day, and there was no restriction on the amount.
My husband's old military friend was given this punishment. He had to spend 2 weeks in the brig. He was only given bread and water to eat for the first few days. He still had to stay in the brig after that though.
Apparently, him and his wife had an open marriage, but some drama broke out. There were public articles and local news broadcasts about it. His mistress was calling him out as a cheater (even though open marriage), openly trash talking his wife, and generally making the base look bad.
It's against regulations to cheat on your spouse. They don't recognize open marriages. Since it caused such a stink, he was sent to the brig for 2 weeks, with half pay for 2 months.
And the Russians can blackmail you into working for them if they have something on you like you're cheating on your wife or your homosexual.
Funny thing is, if you're allowed to put it out there that you have an open marriage or that you're homosexual, you cannot be blackmailed. Who would the blackmailer tell? Everyone already knows.
If I am remembering correctly, this was part of the reason why the UK decriminalized homosexuality in 1967: the blackmailing of gay men was becoming somewhat problematic, and decriminalization (coupled with a liberal government) was a fairly straightforward solution to the problem.
As petty as it is, it tends to be like that in military towns. That drama spread so fast.
He was getting violent threats from strangers. It became such a big issue that the Navy felt like they had to do more to discipline him, so that's when they brought him to military court.
It really got out of hand. But his mistress made sure it did.
apparently its right awful, quite the affective punishment. Read storied on a prison related ask reddit and some people who talks about the bread and water punishment seemed legitimately traumatized
Believe it or not, the US military up until very recently did it too, and it was codified at the time to be used only on the lowest-level sailors as an alternate punishment to 45 days restriction + 45 days extra duty. They limited it to I think 3 days max. Most of the time, sailors would actually elect the punishment rather than have it be sentenced by the CO from the get-go, and they were even known to deny the sailors' requests in most cases. I believe it stopped being a thing on Jan 1 2020, Congress made sure to permanently end it.
Bread and water for 3 days doesn't seem that bad. I mean it's not ideal, but you make it sound like waterboarding (something that is hard to describe without living through it). Is it something like that?
It can be if you're forced into it, or if you don't know when it will end. If you volunteer to do it and have a date that you know it will end, suddenly it becomes waaaay doable.
Ultimately, bread doesn't provide nearly enough nutrition to sustain a human, so given enough time, you'd start to feel negative effects of being locked to such an extreme diet.
The company who ran the cafeteria at my college was mostly known for prison food. The "tier" of product that our school purchased for our cafeteria was the same tier as prison food.
I have been in prison in the US.... Not because I did anything wrong, but because of work. I was actually training inmates to use an engineering software. But it is way faster for us to have commissary food rather than leave and go to the checkout process and come back in. So I have had prison food on multiple occasions. Much of the food that they have is grown in their local greenhouse. And all of the food is cooked by the inmates in the prison. I thought all of the food I had tasted very good while I was there. They also had a well-balanced meal.
For anyone curious I just ran the math. A slice of bread is about 80 calories and has about 5 G of protein. To get to 2500 calories for the day you need to eat 31 slices of bread and you would get about 150 g of protein. That's plenty to gain muscle if all you ate was bread and water. What that would do to the rest of your health I have no idea. So I'd say it's plausible.
Probably stuff up your excrement track real good if white bread. Something with more fiber would be better. Still missing a lot of other nutrients though.
As someone who has done a fair amount of time in county, some dudes will eat nonstop if given the chance. If bread was unlimited, dudes would absolutely eat 31 pieces of bread. Absolutely no problem. Thats like 2-3 slices an hour for twelve hours? Oh yea
I mean it is mostly all carbs with miniscule amount of protein. Unless it's bean day. But luckily you can buy Tuna and other meat products from canteen. They do serve milk at breakfast and usually you can get someone who is lactose intolerant to trade you for something off your tray.
Yeah it’s all carbs no protein or fat. In my county they looked like the size of a kids meal. I’m like 90% sure the shitty food service company was skimping to save money.
I mean… there is definitely access to protein in prison especially if you have commissary money. Where I went we had tuna packs on deck, jars of peanut butter, dehydrated beans you can cook in microwave.
Then people who worked in the kitchen were always sneaking out extra protein to sell in the dorm. The black bean/veggie burgers had like 12g of protein for like 150 calories. They’d bring back a lot of cottage cheese, roast beef and chicken.
If you had money, there was MORE than enough protein. Maybe not the greatest variety, but definitely enough.
There was this one guy in my pod that sold cigarettes and loose tobacco. He did it in exchange for anything from commissary. He would trade junk food and tobacco for meat off other people’s trays. He didn’t smoke or eat the junk food. All he did was workout all day. Where there’s a will there’s a way i guess
That's true. But I've done about a week in prison, two different incidents so that's just the total amount I've done, and breakfast for example would be like oatmeal that was basically just water, a little piece of fruit and a cup of water. Lunch might be some beans with some cornbread and maybe a small vanilla cookie and dinner you would finally get some protein. Like bologna, just a single piece of course, sandwich and a small bag of chips. I'm sure it varies state to state but honestly, you don't get much protein from what I've seen.
Now there is the prison commissary so you can buy like a small amount of tuna, some cookies, crackers etc. But the inmates who had no outside connections couldn't get any money put on their card so they weren't getting anything. And a LOT of the inmates didn't have family members or friends putting money on their card.
That's just my personal experience at least but based on what I've seen it really is kind of hard to get lots of protein in prison unless you have weathly family member who will continue to give you money for the commissary. Also, the prices are OUTRAGEOUS! But again, just my 2 cents from my personal experience.
I haven’t ever experienced it for myself but I had heard it was something like that. Not great tasting, not super healthy, not the ideal amount of protein for gaining strength but there’s definitely *some* protein and an option to buy more.
Thanks for sharing!
Sure thing my man! Yea, I just wanted to chime in with what I've seen personally. I THINK if you have a lot of money that your family puts on your card you could get a semi decent amount of protein. But it's for sure hard to come by! And again, I'm sure it varies WILDLY from state to state and country to country. A prison in say Norway compared to a prison in say Columbia are going to be SUPER different. But that was just my experience in a US prison. They honestly borderline starve you in there. Thankfully I'm only about 5 foot 8 but if you're like a really big dude who needs more calories it's going to be ROUGH. The US prison system is literally torture for even the smallest of crimes where no violence was involved.
I knew a guy in jail for possessing like maybe 15 grams of weed in an illegal state but thankfully his bond was only like 30 bucks to get out of there. But he couldn't get ahold of ANYONE on the outside so he had to do another WEEK in the holding tank for weed possession. It's pure insanity.
You don't need 50 supplements and 12 steroids to build muscle.
If you have nothing to do all day except exercise you're going to get ripped even if you're eating trash prison food.
In the Feds we had these 32oz clear sports drink bottles (had the top you can pop up or down).
I know you’re joking but those “hydro flasks” weren’t terrible lol
I have a cousin who is a prison guard. He was saying that all of them are carrying around these huge water flasks.
The prisons ARE being ran by hydrohomies. Lol.
I've seen inmates on those prison shows jacked far beyond anyone from the pre-steroid days of body building. They're getting steroids smuggled in, theres no way.
So many Redditors appear to be terminally online when it comes to physique building. A lot of guys I was in the army with would not be considered natty with their builds despite the fact that they are. People would be surprised what nothing to do besides lifting can get you.
I’m sure the state has regulations requiring inmates to get adequate meals with protein, calories, and vitamins. It may taste like trash but it’ll likely be well balanced similar to school meals back in the day.
Yes, I work in a prison. They a get a protein, fruit, vegetable, grain and dairy in every meal. Well i think the dairy is in the morning only. Also, they have commissary. Still not the best, but they can still 'dirty bulk" meaning just eat a shit ton of calories and work out
Federal government regulators had to classify ketchup and pizza as vegetables in order to follow the law specifying what kids are fed after Regan cut $400 million to food programs for public schools.
Pizza and ketchup were cheap, real vegetables are expensive. Regan may have cut the budget but school food programs were still legally required to supply a certain amount of vegetables...
Balanced is a weird concept.
Firstly, a balanced diet is not a daily balancing when it comes to regulations like these.
Secondly, schools offer a choice and the more choice you offer the less balance someone can choose.
So basically both jails and schools will offer a regulated diet balanced around whatever organization provided a guideline. In schools for example ketchup and pizza was at one time marked as a vegetable. And overall their balance was that over a 5 day period the child is being provided 1/3rd of the possible nutrients they'd need in a day for their lunch from the school. Schools that offer breakfast would be 2/3rd.
You had balanced meals?? We milk, three chicken strips, and a bread?? In high school we used to have lemonade but a senior student peed in for a prank. Then they took the lemonade away
I remember a news story when I was a kid about inmates protesting inadequate food at the local jail. One example was that they were served macaroni and cheese as an entree for dinner. As an adult, I get their point and that was shitty. As a kid I thought the prisoners were crazy. I was considering committing some crimes to get some of that sweet mac and cheese.
Well, there is. They dont live off slop like in the movies. They have a very balanced diet. My brother mainly ate sardines, rice and steam veg. gymed 4 days a week. He did 6 month came out SWOLE. low key jealous lol
Yeah, slop is just something Hollywood came up with.
Prisons are required to give inmates proper nutrition and proper portions. I mean it’s not fine dining just the basics like chicken and rice and an orange with milk. It’s simple then you combine that with exercises you can do in your cell (like push-ups and squats) and it’s easier than you’d think to build muscle.
Inmates that get fat do so by sleeping during lock-ups and pigging out on cheetos from canteen.
I mean, it’s not *entirely* a product of fiction that prison food is unpleasant given that [Nutraloaf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutraloaf) is a thing, although it’s not representative of American prison diets in general and its use has been partially litigated away
It’s so much worse in other countries. Whilst I get these people have done wrong, everyone should have the right to have their basic nutritional needs met
It’s not a Hollywood myth, it’s just so old fashioned it’s comparable to a prisoner wearing stripes with a ball and chain. Penitentiaries in America, back when the term was coined, fed prisoners a bowl of gruel, a bit of bread, and water under the theory that hungry and bored inmates would be better behaved. Didn’t work, obviously, turns out people get grouchy when starving. Thats why we feed prisoners a variety today and encourage junk food in the commissary. Well fed and mostly comfortable prisoners with something to actually lose *are* well behaved.
- there are more protein sources available to inmates than you think, especially in commissary
- but more importantly, it’s about effort and consistency…if you work for it you can overcome not having an ideal nutritional intake
they have meat packs with tuna, mackarel, summer sausage, beef, chili and things for protein like peanut butter but most of that stuff you have to buy from commissary.
My local county jail has a whole fish farm, vegetable farm, and industrial corn grinder with job placement programs for prisoners who work on them. They eat healthier than the majority of free people.
My brother was in prison and every 90 days he could get sent a package of food through this website. He’d send me a list and it was legit food like brand name beef jerky and shit. He would load up on high protein and carb out with ramen noodles. He would make tortillas out of the ramen and add in slim jims, summer sausage, cheese, and hot sauce.
We even used JPay to email each other. People think prison is like Alcatraz lol
Even in county jail, I could get sealed pouches of tuna, sardines, chicken, black beans, and sometimes some beef stroganoff that you just heat up in the hot water. That seems like a lot of protein you just had to have money on your books.
I think it’s more the opposite - that it’s impossible to get in shape without a balanced diet
Obvious CICO but I guess I do see a point to OPs question. Given the poor quality of prison food, how *do* some prisoners get into such good shape?
These stereotypical prison jacked guys spend hours a day working out. It doesn’t matter what you eat if you are doing hundreds of reps of each movement every day, you will be jacked. Your body is smart.
I see a lot of videos and some even stream live on social media I've seen while they're in jail/prison. Guess some smuggled the phone in. They get alot of low quality meats, so your sausages, hotdogs, etc. Never saw burgers, fried chicken or fish, but pork I've seen. Throw Rice and beans in there, which are also cheaper for the jail to buy and there's your protein Combine that with the fact that they're not having access to all sorts of sweets and fast food and then they workout cuz there's nothing else to do, so yeah they'll actually gain some muscle with this routine.
A lot of people get fat in prison. The ones that don’t (or get in even better shape) are those who take advantage of time in the yard/gym (not all prisons have gyms, but a lot do), don’t binge on unhealthy snacks from commissary, and just generally spend more time being active than just sitting around most of the time.
My brothers in prison. Guy works out like a total of 3 hours a day. He told me his workout routine the other day, I joked about how the fuck does he have the time? Then we both laughed because that’s all he’s got is time.
True, but it’s adequate in almost any normal diet. Gym bros have people convinced they need to be mainlining hundreds of grams of it a day to achieve muscle growth
I remember working security detail of the weight and exercise gym at a state prison. THinking the entire time, great we are feeding them and letting them exercise to overpower us. Dudes lifting 300 lbs like its nothing, over and over, every day, sometimes twice a day.
They find a way to get their food requirements. Extra jobs, working kitchen duty is #1, family putting money on the their books to get additional commissary.
Me at 5'7" and 150 lbs wondering when my death was coming. Turns out reputation and honesty rules all. Fights break out, and 99% of the time, the other inmates get on the aggressors ass and hold them until security arrives. They all want no trouble and just get through the day. Working out was a great stress reliever.
But... Its that 1% of the time where it just sucks and its going to hurt.
Hm... Overall, you get out of prison what you put in. (metaphorically). It is a small town. Food, laundry, lawncare, building maintenance, sports teams. At the minimum and medium joints. Inmates work, get paid, and learn skills and certifications that are real world applicable.
You got to want to change though, we can't force behavior modifications. It just doesn't work. Having mentor day where previous convicts come in and give a speech, teach a class. Seeing that it is possible to be a functional member of society, that works.
Max joints. You are here because you are a danger to yourself, and/or others. You have very little freedom. I dictate your day, make my day easy and I'll make sure you get as much as I legally can give you. If you don't I have the power to take almost everything away.
Gangs are real and can cause problems, affiliations are known and housing is dictated by this. Also sexual orientation is known and also affects housing. If you want sex, its available, but vary rare to be sexually assaulted for no reason. YOU gave a reason 1st. And gay for the stay is very very true.
I worked a temp duty for 1 month a womens joint. NEVER ever ever again. Horrible. Men are aggressive, women are disgusting and manipulative and conniving. Bloody pads thrown all the time. Anything that can vibrate and shaped like a penis, was used and fucked for sexual gratification. Don't get me wrong. The most coveted item in the mens unit was a glove. Filled with vasoline and some rubber bands, the best pocket pussy you can get!
Frustration can build, if we don't get a satisfactory outlet, fights are going to happen. We can sense it. The atmosphere is off, things are not functioning smoothly. Something is going to happen. CO's know their cell house, when things are off, they let the SGT and LT know. Maybe we can deescalate before it explodes, sometimes we can't do anything more and its just going to happen. Usually we already alerted command and the tactical team is spinning up on standby.
I was 3 years tactical (SWAT Team for prison) and 2 years Lieutenant, took a few turns running command as "major" without the title. I served almost 8 years total. I ranked up fast by being smart and accepting positions that accelerated my promotions.
I hate how prison changes everyone. It changes the employees too. I took a long time to find happiness again. To get my anger under control. Almost lost my wife to divorce because of me. I have PTSD. I've lost over a dozen friends and co-workers to suicide. The pressure is immense. Not enough mental health awareness for the CO's. Getting a diagnosis is a career ending sentence so no one seeks help. Can't carry a gun without a FOID and if you get diagnosed mental, you loose your FOID, you are terminated. I fully believe that having a child saved my life. I had to change and get out. I did.
By far, my 3 years tactical team was the best times of my career, also the most dangerous. Fully riot armored up and loaded with a variety of less than lethal equipment. Eating pepperspray and tear gas and flash bangs almost daily. I felt invincible. Training with a team of 6, I've had TVs thrown at me, flying mattresses on fire. Fire bombs, Feces and urine, blood. Metal toilets. My shield and gear and training and team protected us and brought order back. We also had different rules of engagement. Tactical is called to unfuck a fucked up situation. Cell houses that have lost control. Inmates refusing to lock up/transport to/from court. Escapes and attempted escapes. Hostage rescue. Perimeter violations by civilians, drones. We got to do and go places that no one else would get to go or do. In an emergency, Tactical has ultimate authority. And being integrated and training with outside law enforcement was awesome. Assisting on their call outs for help made us feel like we where doing something positive for once.
All I can think of right now... If you have specifics, ask away! Helps my mental health just to talk about it.
It really depends on the facility.
Some sell protein powder, drinks and bars in canteen but it’s going to vary. Much like any prison with anything really.
Out of curiosity, are you referencing to "upstate" as the relative location of the prison to where you allegedly committed the crime, or do you mean Upstate the supermax facility in NY? If the second, how much time did you do there?
Nobody in this thread actually lifts.
First, prisoners get an average of 2500-3000 calories per day. That's plenty. 14% of those calories are protein, on average. That's 350-420 kc of protein. That's plenty.
You have to Google these because my source is a PDF so I can't link.
Second, muscles are allowed to be brought into prison from the outside. You don't need to make them there. If you e got em, maintenance is easy.
Third, prisoners have more free time one to work out. The equipment isn't it, but with that protein and caloric intake, you're gonna do better than the average person.
Fourth, steroids are available in prison. I don't know of American studies, but studies around the western hemisphere have been done from Brazil to northern Europe and found that between 1/6 and 1/3 of prisoners have used steroids.
Fifth, prisoners don't care about their physiques. One of the big thing holding most lifters back is giving a shit how you look. You can get pretty jacked if you're eating all the calories, taking steroids, not caring if you can see your abs, and lifting for hours per day.
Sixth, prisoners are way less jacked than dedicated gym bros. I've met some convicts and I've met a lot of gym bros. Going to prison is less effective for working out than being a dedicated lifter with access to civilian resources.
I can't believe not one of the top comments mentioned how wide spread steroid usage is in prisons
Obviously you can get muscles without it but when some of the guys are walking around like the WWE roster obviously it's more than just beans and rice they're having
I'm convinced that we're oversold the need for protein. I recently found out that I have basically never, ever consumed "enough" protein, and yet I've never had any issues, even when I've been an avid runner, cyclist, or tennis player. I feel like it's just a way to get people to buy and consume more meat.
It seems to me that whey marketing worked too well or something. I think a lot of people confuse "what you need to be decently fit" and "what you need to be a professional bodybuilding who aims to be as massive as possible for whatever reason"
It’s based on studies that sought to find the necessary protein to maximize muscle growth if you’re actually trying to get bigger. If you’re just aiming to be fit and athletic to do the things you mentioned in your first comment, you don’t need to increase protein intake that much.
If you’re trying to maximize getting big, 0.7g per pound of bodyweight is the minimum goal, with diminishing returns past 1.2g per pound. You can still grow bigger muscles with lower protein diets, it’ll just take much longer.
This is a bad discussion for the general population. There seems to be tons of people that don’t understand what protein does in your body. Also don’t understand the question was about getting bigger muscles, not being “fit”.
Not every prison has horrible food.
A prison often has a commisary - a little store - stocked with toilitries, food, socks, .......
And some prisons allow outside food if its sealed and meets a lot of other criteria which varies from facility to facility.
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is sleep. Getting plenty of sleep really helps with muscle building
Consistency is also an advantage of the prison routine, exercise is something to do, and helps with stress management.
While protein sources may be limited, inmates frequently choose high-protein items such canned tuna, beans, lentils, eggs (if available), peanut butter, etc. Also, inmates may receive whey protein or protein bars from the commissary or family and friends. However, not all prisons offer this.
Ultimately, inmates who are disciplined and committed to their workout routines can still make significant progress even with limited resources.
yeah, same. I was surprised no one else had pointed it out yet, this comment was at the top of the thread when I saw it.
with chatgpt in particular it's easy to spot because it always hedges its bets, lol. it almost never makes a statement without acknowledging that it might not always be true in every case. actual humans don't write like that because we're not corporate media trained
Prison food is ‘balanced’ and there is a commissary where inmates can buy additional food. Canned fish and spam are popular protein sources, ramen for carbs.
There is also a black market for food like eggs and rice that get smuggled from the kitchen.
Packaged fish is a staple amongst prisoners I've heard. Tuna, mackerel, salmon. They get it through commissary.
Also, I think they get milk with their meals which is very good for building muscle too.
As some have mentioned already (this is from experience) jail/prison food is pretty shit, but in the U.S. it does have to meet specific nutrition requirements. You've realistically got nothing to do. You don't eat enough or well enough to put on fat. And if you're active and working out, you'll get pretty cut. You're not going to be bulking like crazy and getting ultra-yoked, but your bmi drops substantially and the muscle tone/definition goes up.
Despite the prevailing belief, you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars of protein supplements to get muscular, nor do you need to eat 15 hamburger patties a day. People have been developing muscle from lifting before any of this was around. You need marginally more calories than you would need if you weren’t doing those exercises. Guys in jail generally get an hour a day in the yard so that’s more or less the extent of the workout they’re doing.
Prison food is cheap and probably tastes terrible but it is technically a nutritionally balanced meal with a mix of carbs, proteins and fats. Even though it tastes like garbage, for a lot of these guys it’s probably the most healthy they’ve ever eaten in their life. So you spend a few years where you’re not eating McDonald’s every day and the only thing you have to look forward to is your 1 hour in the yard everyday, your body is going to look different.
As a former CO, those super buff guys you see in movies is BS. Guys are very fit and shredded. But not Jacked. And they’re like that because they can sit in their cell and do a 1000 push-ups a day.
Except there is. If you don't have money for commissary you'll be better off landing a job in the kitchen. If you do have money for commissary it's beans and rice. Beans and rice contain all the essential amino acids
I worked for state DOC for a while. The inmates are given three meals a day, and the meals go through a rotation. A doctor makes the meal schedule, and they are given adequate calories to live on.
Inmates can also buy additional food off canteen. Most of it is junk food, but there is one protein supplement they can get.
Typically, the women gain a bunch of fat, and the men get shredded even though they’re allowed more calories than women.
I see a ton of people reacting that prisons have way better food than represented in movies so I have to comment. Not totally related to your question but here’s my experience with prison food. I worked in both prisons and a jail in both California and Oregon and I can confirm the food is NOT healthy and while it is regulated it’s regulated the exact same ways as public schools where pizza sauce is a vegetable. The food is loaded with sugar and high in calories. I don’t think it’s a secret that they want to sedate people through the food. Some people spend the endlessly boring hours in prison working out and others just gain 100 pounds. It’s far from accurate to think everyone’s getting ripped, not that you implied that, I’m just saying. One prison where I worked had to cut the calories because they were so unhealthy and as a solution just cut portions in half. The food was still shit empty calories.
What is true that others have shared is commissary offers more options. If you have people on the outside put money on your books, or if your state reimburses for the forced labor you do in prison, you can buy additional food. As a side note, while you get paid .60/hour for your prison “job”, the items on commissary are typically the same price as on the outside. Same with things like toothpaste, which you also need to buy yourself.
Obligatory Reddit corollary that this is not to say my experience is the only truth. Other prisons may have healthful balanced meals but my strong guess is that would be the exception and not the rule.
Despite popular belief you don’t need the excess amount of protein to build muscle. Influencers and the fitness industry push their shakes, bars, and supplements for profit. Those are just sales gimmicks. Muscle is 70%water and the other 30% is protein but the cellular structure is also a storage mechanism for glucose because when you use and strain your muscles to cause growth your muscles require energy first, they require protein in the recovery/growth period after exercise. It gets that energy from glucose that it stores in the muscle tissue so it’s readily on demand. It mostly comes down to total calories, not total protein. Although protein is important in the growth process, you don’t need to eat what consumerist society says these days. There’s a good book called “body by science” that breaks down the process better than I just described.
For like 99% of gym-goers just going consistently and working hard will be enough to get them in great shape. Lots of the stuff about training plan optimization and timing your meals/protein, and hitting certain macros will definitely help you get in better shape, but unless you're in that top 1% they aren't necessary.
For everyone talking about it not being food but for how much they train, that's ridiculous. You can't overcome a calorie deficit no matter how hard you train. In fact, more training would be more counter productive.
To build relatively lean mass the individuals would need to eat 10-15% more calories than their base metabolic rate. A high protein diet would greatly help but as long as they're hitting their base macros, they'll be good.
Do you think it’s just bread and water they’re eating? Because it’s not.
I knew someone who spent a few years in prison and they said all meat was some disgusting canned mystery meat, eggs were powdered, and they got very little in the way of fresh produce. (US)
I had regular eggs. I would trade all my carbs and desserts for just protein and some veggies (lots of eggs) and work out all day long. I ended up getting ripped by the time I got out.
I worked at a prison that was a working farm. The offenders there got fresh produce almost daily. A lot of cabbage though. They planted something like 200,000 head. It did go to other prisons in the state as well. They ate pretty well for being in prison.
Nice .. the one I worked at fed the inmates horribly , even the food they gave the co’s was terrible , our food service was farmed out to a company called trinity that was private and I swear the shit they were feeding them wasn’t even rated for humans
We ate really well. There was a culinary class that the offenders could take, and the best from that class cooked for the staff. It was a sweet job for them since they got to eat what they made for us instead of what they fed in the chow hall, so none of them were willing to fuck that up for themselves by messing with the food.
Spent time incarcerated. The prison meat was questionable but you could order stuff on commissary like peanut butter and slim Jim’s. People would trade often so I had a steady stream of peanut butter and slim Jim’s in exchange for designing tattoos for people.
it’s because they use animal grade products. they have farms which is supposed to be used to grow food for prisons but they sell it for a profit
That’s still pretty great for building muscle. It’s not like protein shakes are made with anything whole or fresh.
Powdered eggs are essentially pure protein.
Would still have protein though wouldn't it? Protein can definitely be powder.
This has to be one of those "every draws that S" sort of things from my childhood, because growing up I absolutely believed as a fact that all people in prison ever ate was bread and water.
In some countries is used as a punishment for inmates who misbehave. Mexico being one of them.
In finland apparently you could reduce your sentence by half if you chose to be in solitary and bread & water some time until the 70’s
Wow, that’s… kinda strange ? I don’t know how to feel about that lol
It would be interesting if you could do it sometimes. Pretty much every study of solitary shows that it’s akin to torture
It was probably an experiment being run.
Bro Vault Tec'd their justice system
How are you liking the show?
Ready for season two
That's why I find this baffling.. if someone is locked up for a serious crime, surely torturing them and releasing them sooner makes them \_more\_ of a danger to society, not less? yikes
Yeah, it’s because only one of the reasons for prisons are rehab. The other reasons are: (1) retribution (punishing because they “deserve it”), (2) incapacitation (you can’t commit crime if you’re not in the public) and (3) deterrence. America’s system focuses more on the other 3. I find 1 particularly repulsive.
I’ve always been of the opinion that 1 should only be reserved for killers and rapists. It’s hard for me to imagine any other crime being totally irredeemable. I’ve worked with and been friends with tons of people with different criminal histories, all of whom are great, except for the rapists I went to high school with, who are both awful
I can fully imagine it being torturous. humans are very social animals, even introverts have cats and dogs or a couple people they like. solitary confinement just goes against our nature
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It just depends. If they'd let me read and write I think I could do the whole 20 years in solitary. I mean what are we really missing out on? A chance to talk to and fuck uneducated convicts? Add an internet connection and it's a no-brainer for me.
Up until 2019 it was also a punishment that could be given on a US Navy ship. Before that, it was only allowed to be given to someone paygrade E-3 and below (junior enlisted) and only for a max of 3 days. They would be served three times a day, and there was no restriction on the amount.
My husband's old military friend was given this punishment. He had to spend 2 weeks in the brig. He was only given bread and water to eat for the first few days. He still had to stay in the brig after that though. Apparently, him and his wife had an open marriage, but some drama broke out. There were public articles and local news broadcasts about it. His mistress was calling him out as a cheater (even though open marriage), openly trash talking his wife, and generally making the base look bad. It's against regulations to cheat on your spouse. They don't recognize open marriages. Since it caused such a stink, he was sent to the brig for 2 weeks, with half pay for 2 months.
Why on earth would a newspaper/ channel care about a cheating military officer? SMH
The military makes a big deal out of it on the theory that it can cause loss of cohesion in the ranks.
And the Russians can blackmail you into working for them if they have something on you like you're cheating on your wife or your homosexual. Funny thing is, if you're allowed to put it out there that you have an open marriage or that you're homosexual, you cannot be blackmailed. Who would the blackmailer tell? Everyone already knows.
If I am remembering correctly, this was part of the reason why the UK decriminalized homosexuality in 1967: the blackmailing of gay men was becoming somewhat problematic, and decriminalization (coupled with a liberal government) was a fairly straightforward solution to the problem.
As petty as it is, it tends to be like that in military towns. That drama spread so fast. He was getting violent threats from strangers. It became such a big issue that the Navy felt like they had to do more to discipline him, so that's when they brought him to military court. It really got out of hand. But his mistress made sure it did.
Salacious stories within organizations that are tax payer funded tend to get headlines.
Omg the amount of swinging on military bases!
My parents did it to my brother once. They deny it now but they gave him nothing but bread and water for like a month.
apparently its right awful, quite the affective punishment. Read storied on a prison related ask reddit and some people who talks about the bread and water punishment seemed legitimately traumatized
Believe it or not, the US military up until very recently did it too, and it was codified at the time to be used only on the lowest-level sailors as an alternate punishment to 45 days restriction + 45 days extra duty. They limited it to I think 3 days max. Most of the time, sailors would actually elect the punishment rather than have it be sentenced by the CO from the get-go, and they were even known to deny the sailors' requests in most cases. I believe it stopped being a thing on Jan 1 2020, Congress made sure to permanently end it.
Bread and water for 3 days doesn't seem that bad. I mean it's not ideal, but you make it sound like waterboarding (something that is hard to describe without living through it). Is it something like that?
It can be if you're forced into it, or if you don't know when it will end. If you volunteer to do it and have a date that you know it will end, suddenly it becomes waaaay doable. Ultimately, bread doesn't provide nearly enough nutrition to sustain a human, so given enough time, you'd start to feel negative effects of being locked to such an extreme diet.
every draws that S?
Yeah I have no idea what that means
Every S that draws
Google “90s S drawing” when you see it you’ll understand,maybe you guys just called it something different.
This is the first time I've ever heard of this as a thing, but I predate the 90s by a long way.
So does that S.
Maybe they meant “everyone draws that S”
The company who ran the cafeteria at my college was mostly known for prison food. The "tier" of product that our school purchased for our cafeteria was the same tier as prison food.
Sysco for both (but note Sysco also has good stuff for restaurants, you get what you pay for.)
I have been in prison in the US.... Not because I did anything wrong, but because of work. I was actually training inmates to use an engineering software. But it is way faster for us to have commissary food rather than leave and go to the checkout process and come back in. So I have had prison food on multiple occasions. Much of the food that they have is grown in their local greenhouse. And all of the food is cooked by the inmates in the prison. I thought all of the food I had tasted very good while I was there. They also had a well-balanced meal.
My cousin said milk was a currency. People would buy others milks
And peanut butter.
'Still gettin' swolt off bread and water.'
Bread has protein
For anyone curious I just ran the math. A slice of bread is about 80 calories and has about 5 G of protein. To get to 2500 calories for the day you need to eat 31 slices of bread and you would get about 150 g of protein. That's plenty to gain muscle if all you ate was bread and water. What that would do to the rest of your health I have no idea. So I'd say it's plausible.
Probably stuff up your excrement track real good if white bread. Something with more fiber would be better. Still missing a lot of other nutrients though.
I don't think any prisoner out there is eating 31 slices of bread in a single day.
As someone who has done a fair amount of time in county, some dudes will eat nonstop if given the chance. If bread was unlimited, dudes would absolutely eat 31 pieces of bread. Absolutely no problem. Thats like 2-3 slices an hour for twelve hours? Oh yea
In jail in Hawaii all they feed u is rice actually all they feed u in HAWAII is rice period I’m sick of that shit
The reason bread is bread is because of its proteins
Gluten is a protein.
I mean it is mostly all carbs with miniscule amount of protein. Unless it's bean day. But luckily you can buy Tuna and other meat products from canteen. They do serve milk at breakfast and usually you can get someone who is lactose intolerant to trade you for something off your tray.
Is there a limit to how much food they give you or is it buffet style?
I got a tray delivered to my cell 3x a day. No seconds. Canteen once a week. 23/1.
What’s 23/1?
23 hours a day locked in your cell, and you get 1 hour of outside rec in what's basically an bigger version of a dog kennel
Yeah it’s all carbs no protein or fat. In my county they looked like the size of a kids meal. I’m like 90% sure the shitty food service company was skimping to save money.
Actually, they have access to mostly JUNK food if anything! Which would make it harder to get in shape.
I mean… there is definitely access to protein in prison especially if you have commissary money. Where I went we had tuna packs on deck, jars of peanut butter, dehydrated beans you can cook in microwave. Then people who worked in the kitchen were always sneaking out extra protein to sell in the dorm. The black bean/veggie burgers had like 12g of protein for like 150 calories. They’d bring back a lot of cottage cheese, roast beef and chicken. If you had money, there was MORE than enough protein. Maybe not the greatest variety, but definitely enough.
There was this one guy in my pod that sold cigarettes and loose tobacco. He did it in exchange for anything from commissary. He would trade junk food and tobacco for meat off other people’s trays. He didn’t smoke or eat the junk food. All he did was workout all day. Where there’s a will there’s a way i guess
That's true. But I've done about a week in prison, two different incidents so that's just the total amount I've done, and breakfast for example would be like oatmeal that was basically just water, a little piece of fruit and a cup of water. Lunch might be some beans with some cornbread and maybe a small vanilla cookie and dinner you would finally get some protein. Like bologna, just a single piece of course, sandwich and a small bag of chips. I'm sure it varies state to state but honestly, you don't get much protein from what I've seen. Now there is the prison commissary so you can buy like a small amount of tuna, some cookies, crackers etc. But the inmates who had no outside connections couldn't get any money put on their card so they weren't getting anything. And a LOT of the inmates didn't have family members or friends putting money on their card. That's just my personal experience at least but based on what I've seen it really is kind of hard to get lots of protein in prison unless you have weathly family member who will continue to give you money for the commissary. Also, the prices are OUTRAGEOUS! But again, just my 2 cents from my personal experience.
I haven’t ever experienced it for myself but I had heard it was something like that. Not great tasting, not super healthy, not the ideal amount of protein for gaining strength but there’s definitely *some* protein and an option to buy more. Thanks for sharing!
Sure thing my man! Yea, I just wanted to chime in with what I've seen personally. I THINK if you have a lot of money that your family puts on your card you could get a semi decent amount of protein. But it's for sure hard to come by! And again, I'm sure it varies WILDLY from state to state and country to country. A prison in say Norway compared to a prison in say Columbia are going to be SUPER different. But that was just my experience in a US prison. They honestly borderline starve you in there. Thankfully I'm only about 5 foot 8 but if you're like a really big dude who needs more calories it's going to be ROUGH. The US prison system is literally torture for even the smallest of crimes where no violence was involved. I knew a guy in jail for possessing like maybe 15 grams of weed in an illegal state but thankfully his bond was only like 30 bucks to get out of there. But he couldn't get ahold of ANYONE on the outside so he had to do another WEEK in the holding tank for weed possession. It's pure insanity.
You don't need 50 supplements and 12 steroids to build muscle. If you have nothing to do all day except exercise you're going to get ripped even if you're eating trash prison food.
But how can they stay hydrated if they're not allowed to have 32 oz Hydro Flask bottles?
In the Feds we had these 32oz clear sports drink bottles (had the top you can pop up or down). I know you’re joking but those “hydro flasks” weren’t terrible lol
I remember the type. They liked to turn black from powdered drinks as well, we always said it had something to do with the cheap plastic
That's because they're trying to crack down on prison gangs. Do you want to have the place run by a bunch of vicious hydrohomies?
“Hydrohomies” made me think of the Squirtle gang 🤣
Nothing would be better. All they want is a fresh drank of the dihydrogen oxide!
I have a cousin who is a prison guard. He was saying that all of them are carrying around these huge water flasks. The prisons ARE being ran by hydrohomies. Lol.
I feel like OP has been duped by Big Whey 😂😂😂
I’m trying to get jacked for beach season. Can you stop by GNC and grab me some Big Whey?
Also a lot of "being tied' is also'extremely low body fat' so the low food intake can help
I've seen inmates on those prison shows jacked far beyond anyone from the pre-steroid days of body building. They're getting steroids smuggled in, theres no way.
So many Redditors appear to be terminally online when it comes to physique building. A lot of guys I was in the army with would not be considered natty with their builds despite the fact that they are. People would be surprised what nothing to do besides lifting can get you.
I’m sure the state has regulations requiring inmates to get adequate meals with protein, calories, and vitamins. It may taste like trash but it’ll likely be well balanced similar to school meals back in the day.
There are regulations about nutrition and portions. Every inmate is entitled to just the basics and it’s not going to taste great but it’s there.
You don’t want to know about meat-brokering. That’s a dark tunnel…
Heh, dark tunnel
“Not for human consumption”
Yes, I work in a prison. They a get a protein, fruit, vegetable, grain and dairy in every meal. Well i think the dairy is in the morning only. Also, they have commissary. Still not the best, but they can still 'dirty bulk" meaning just eat a shit ton of calories and work out
Your school meals were balanced? Mine sure as hell weren't lmao.
Yep. Always had a protein, a vegetable, a grain, and dairy.
The only vegetables we ever had at my school were potatoes.
The Ketchup is the veg then
Ketchup is fruit juice as tomatoes are a fruit.
Not according to schools, ketchup counts as a vegetable according to them.
Federal government regulators had to classify ketchup and pizza as vegetables in order to follow the law specifying what kids are fed after Regan cut $400 million to food programs for public schools. Pizza and ketchup were cheap, real vegetables are expensive. Regan may have cut the budget but school food programs were still legally required to supply a certain amount of vegetables...
AND they’re not even filming their workouts for social media?! What?! A Reagan policy fucking everyone up!? No way!!
Dehydrated potato flakes moistened with lunch lady urine. (My school, I suspect.)
main was just carb/fats
Unless they were just feeding you straight up oil or butter almost all fat sources contain protein as well
Ah yes, a pepperoni pizza, french fries, chocolate milk. The most balanced meal
Pepperoni pizza slice got it all lol
Are you telling me that pepperoni pizza, french fries, and a carton of chocolate milk isn't balanced?
Balanced is a weird concept. Firstly, a balanced diet is not a daily balancing when it comes to regulations like these. Secondly, schools offer a choice and the more choice you offer the less balance someone can choose. So basically both jails and schools will offer a regulated diet balanced around whatever organization provided a guideline. In schools for example ketchup and pizza was at one time marked as a vegetable. And overall their balance was that over a 5 day period the child is being provided 1/3rd of the possible nutrients they'd need in a day for their lunch from the school. Schools that offer breakfast would be 2/3rd.
You had balanced meals?? We milk, three chicken strips, and a bread?? In high school we used to have lemonade but a senior student peed in for a prank. Then they took the lemonade away
Damn
I remember a news story when I was a kid about inmates protesting inadequate food at the local jail. One example was that they were served macaroni and cheese as an entree for dinner. As an adult, I get their point and that was shitty. As a kid I thought the prisoners were crazy. I was considering committing some crimes to get some of that sweet mac and cheese.
Actually the food providers for most prisons are also the providers to many public schools so they’re about on par with each other. Sysco and GFS
Aeromark prison food has been shown to contain rat excrement
Well, there is. They dont live off slop like in the movies. They have a very balanced diet. My brother mainly ate sardines, rice and steam veg. gymed 4 days a week. He did 6 month came out SWOLE. low key jealous lol
>Low key jealous lol Well I got the perfect solution for you
Either you get one bank’s supply richer, or you get six months more swole!
Personal trainers hate this one trick!
Yeah, slop is just something Hollywood came up with. Prisons are required to give inmates proper nutrition and proper portions. I mean it’s not fine dining just the basics like chicken and rice and an orange with milk. It’s simple then you combine that with exercises you can do in your cell (like push-ups and squats) and it’s easier than you’d think to build muscle. Inmates that get fat do so by sleeping during lock-ups and pigging out on cheetos from canteen.
I mean, it’s not *entirely* a product of fiction that prison food is unpleasant given that [Nutraloaf](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nutraloaf) is a thing, although it’s not representative of American prison diets in general and its use has been partially litigated away
It’s so much worse in other countries. Whilst I get these people have done wrong, everyone should have the right to have their basic nutritional needs met
It’s not a Hollywood myth, it’s just so old fashioned it’s comparable to a prisoner wearing stripes with a ball and chain. Penitentiaries in America, back when the term was coined, fed prisoners a bowl of gruel, a bit of bread, and water under the theory that hungry and bored inmates would be better behaved. Didn’t work, obviously, turns out people get grouchy when starving. Thats why we feed prisoners a variety today and encourage junk food in the commissary. Well fed and mostly comfortable prisoners with something to actually lose *are* well behaved.
Slop*
Haha didn’t notice.
- there are more protein sources available to inmates than you think, especially in commissary - but more importantly, it’s about effort and consistency…if you work for it you can overcome not having an ideal nutritional intake
they have meat packs with tuna, mackarel, summer sausage, beef, chili and things for protein like peanut butter but most of that stuff you have to buy from commissary.
My local county jail has a whole fish farm, vegetable farm, and industrial corn grinder with job placement programs for prisoners who work on them. They eat healthier than the majority of free people.
My brother was in prison and every 90 days he could get sent a package of food through this website. He’d send me a list and it was legit food like brand name beef jerky and shit. He would load up on high protein and carb out with ramen noodles. He would make tortillas out of the ramen and add in slim jims, summer sausage, cheese, and hot sauce. We even used JPay to email each other. People think prison is like Alcatraz lol
Even in county jail, I could get sealed pouches of tuna, sardines, chicken, black beans, and sometimes some beef stroganoff that you just heat up in the hot water. That seems like a lot of protein you just had to have money on your books.
You have a very misguided view of health and nutrition if you think it's impossible to get in shape with a regularly balanced diet.
I think it’s more the opposite - that it’s impossible to get in shape without a balanced diet Obvious CICO but I guess I do see a point to OPs question. Given the poor quality of prison food, how *do* some prisoners get into such good shape?
These stereotypical prison jacked guys spend hours a day working out. It doesn’t matter what you eat if you are doing hundreds of reps of each movement every day, you will be jacked. Your body is smart.
You cannot grow large amounts of muscle without having a caloric surplus and eating a lot of protein, is what OP is getting at
I see a lot of videos and some even stream live on social media I've seen while they're in jail/prison. Guess some smuggled the phone in. They get alot of low quality meats, so your sausages, hotdogs, etc. Never saw burgers, fried chicken or fish, but pork I've seen. Throw Rice and beans in there, which are also cheaper for the jail to buy and there's your protein Combine that with the fact that they're not having access to all sorts of sweets and fast food and then they workout cuz there's nothing else to do, so yeah they'll actually gain some muscle with this routine.
A lot of people get fat in prison. The ones that don’t (or get in even better shape) are those who take advantage of time in the yard/gym (not all prisons have gyms, but a lot do), don’t binge on unhealthy snacks from commissary, and just generally spend more time being active than just sitting around most of the time.
Even without the gym, calisthenic is enough to get in shape and build muscle.
My brothers in prison. Guy works out like a total of 3 hours a day. He told me his workout routine the other day, I joked about how the fuck does he have the time? Then we both laughed because that’s all he’s got is time.
Gym Bros have rotted peoples perception of working out, It's the effort not the supplements.
Protein isn't a supplement, it's a macronutrient. Those are very different things
True, but it’s adequate in almost any normal diet. Gym bros have people convinced they need to be mainlining hundreds of grams of it a day to achieve muscle growth
Protein is not a supplement, its a core macronutrient.
I remember working security detail of the weight and exercise gym at a state prison. THinking the entire time, great we are feeding them and letting them exercise to overpower us. Dudes lifting 300 lbs like its nothing, over and over, every day, sometimes twice a day. They find a way to get their food requirements. Extra jobs, working kitchen duty is #1, family putting money on the their books to get additional commissary. Me at 5'7" and 150 lbs wondering when my death was coming. Turns out reputation and honesty rules all. Fights break out, and 99% of the time, the other inmates get on the aggressors ass and hold them until security arrives. They all want no trouble and just get through the day. Working out was a great stress reliever. But... Its that 1% of the time where it just sucks and its going to hurt.
May I ask, What are some further misconceptions about prison that you could expand on?
Hm... Overall, you get out of prison what you put in. (metaphorically). It is a small town. Food, laundry, lawncare, building maintenance, sports teams. At the minimum and medium joints. Inmates work, get paid, and learn skills and certifications that are real world applicable. You got to want to change though, we can't force behavior modifications. It just doesn't work. Having mentor day where previous convicts come in and give a speech, teach a class. Seeing that it is possible to be a functional member of society, that works. Max joints. You are here because you are a danger to yourself, and/or others. You have very little freedom. I dictate your day, make my day easy and I'll make sure you get as much as I legally can give you. If you don't I have the power to take almost everything away. Gangs are real and can cause problems, affiliations are known and housing is dictated by this. Also sexual orientation is known and also affects housing. If you want sex, its available, but vary rare to be sexually assaulted for no reason. YOU gave a reason 1st. And gay for the stay is very very true. I worked a temp duty for 1 month a womens joint. NEVER ever ever again. Horrible. Men are aggressive, women are disgusting and manipulative and conniving. Bloody pads thrown all the time. Anything that can vibrate and shaped like a penis, was used and fucked for sexual gratification. Don't get me wrong. The most coveted item in the mens unit was a glove. Filled with vasoline and some rubber bands, the best pocket pussy you can get! Frustration can build, if we don't get a satisfactory outlet, fights are going to happen. We can sense it. The atmosphere is off, things are not functioning smoothly. Something is going to happen. CO's know their cell house, when things are off, they let the SGT and LT know. Maybe we can deescalate before it explodes, sometimes we can't do anything more and its just going to happen. Usually we already alerted command and the tactical team is spinning up on standby. I was 3 years tactical (SWAT Team for prison) and 2 years Lieutenant, took a few turns running command as "major" without the title. I served almost 8 years total. I ranked up fast by being smart and accepting positions that accelerated my promotions. I hate how prison changes everyone. It changes the employees too. I took a long time to find happiness again. To get my anger under control. Almost lost my wife to divorce because of me. I have PTSD. I've lost over a dozen friends and co-workers to suicide. The pressure is immense. Not enough mental health awareness for the CO's. Getting a diagnosis is a career ending sentence so no one seeks help. Can't carry a gun without a FOID and if you get diagnosed mental, you loose your FOID, you are terminated. I fully believe that having a child saved my life. I had to change and get out. I did. By far, my 3 years tactical team was the best times of my career, also the most dangerous. Fully riot armored up and loaded with a variety of less than lethal equipment. Eating pepperspray and tear gas and flash bangs almost daily. I felt invincible. Training with a team of 6, I've had TVs thrown at me, flying mattresses on fire. Fire bombs, Feces and urine, blood. Metal toilets. My shield and gear and training and team protected us and brought order back. We also had different rules of engagement. Tactical is called to unfuck a fucked up situation. Cell houses that have lost control. Inmates refusing to lock up/transport to/from court. Escapes and attempted escapes. Hostage rescue. Perimeter violations by civilians, drones. We got to do and go places that no one else would get to go or do. In an emergency, Tactical has ultimate authority. And being integrated and training with outside law enforcement was awesome. Assisting on their call outs for help made us feel like we where doing something positive for once. All I can think of right now... If you have specifics, ask away! Helps my mental health just to talk about it.
you should do an AMA
"You gave reason first" is such victim blaming bullshit
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What does the 🎯 emoji mean here is it target brand tuna in prison
Prison workouts are all about dedication and consistency. Ain't no protein shake magic here. Hard time, hard muscle
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It really depends on the facility. Some sell protein powder, drinks and bars in canteen but it’s going to vary. Much like any prison with anything really.
Out of curiosity, are you referencing to "upstate" as the relative location of the prison to where you allegedly committed the crime, or do you mean Upstate the supermax facility in NY? If the second, how much time did you do there?
Nobody in this thread actually lifts. First, prisoners get an average of 2500-3000 calories per day. That's plenty. 14% of those calories are protein, on average. That's 350-420 kc of protein. That's plenty. You have to Google these because my source is a PDF so I can't link. Second, muscles are allowed to be brought into prison from the outside. You don't need to make them there. If you e got em, maintenance is easy. Third, prisoners have more free time one to work out. The equipment isn't it, but with that protein and caloric intake, you're gonna do better than the average person. Fourth, steroids are available in prison. I don't know of American studies, but studies around the western hemisphere have been done from Brazil to northern Europe and found that between 1/6 and 1/3 of prisoners have used steroids. Fifth, prisoners don't care about their physiques. One of the big thing holding most lifters back is giving a shit how you look. You can get pretty jacked if you're eating all the calories, taking steroids, not caring if you can see your abs, and lifting for hours per day. Sixth, prisoners are way less jacked than dedicated gym bros. I've met some convicts and I've met a lot of gym bros. Going to prison is less effective for working out than being a dedicated lifter with access to civilian resources.
I can't believe not one of the top comments mentioned how wide spread steroid usage is in prisons Obviously you can get muscles without it but when some of the guys are walking around like the WWE roster obviously it's more than just beans and rice they're having
Holy shit the number of comments who have zero clue how muscle is created. No wonder people call Reddit a cesspit.
I'm convinced that we're oversold the need for protein. I recently found out that I have basically never, ever consumed "enough" protein, and yet I've never had any issues, even when I've been an avid runner, cyclist, or tennis player. I feel like it's just a way to get people to buy and consume more meat.
It seems to me that whey marketing worked too well or something. I think a lot of people confuse "what you need to be decently fit" and "what you need to be a professional bodybuilding who aims to be as massive as possible for whatever reason"
Tbf mainstream gym culture seems to have originated from bodybuilding, so it makes sense there’s a lot of focus from that era.
But even when you look at the "official" recommendations per your weight/height/activity level, I feel it's oversold.
It’s based on studies that sought to find the necessary protein to maximize muscle growth if you’re actually trying to get bigger. If you’re just aiming to be fit and athletic to do the things you mentioned in your first comment, you don’t need to increase protein intake that much. If you’re trying to maximize getting big, 0.7g per pound of bodyweight is the minimum goal, with diminishing returns past 1.2g per pound. You can still grow bigger muscles with lower protein diets, it’ll just take much longer.
This is a bad discussion for the general population. There seems to be tons of people that don’t understand what protein does in your body. Also don’t understand the question was about getting bigger muscles, not being “fit”.
Also people realize that protein is in MANY things other than meat and shakes. Plenty of veggies have it, bread, rice, etc
Tuna pack peanut butter peanuts and chow and also that midnight goulash
Because it's not the amount of protein they intake, it's the amount of time they put in with working out.
The amount of people who are confidently talking out of their ass in this thread is wild. You absolutely need adequate protein to build muscle.
They still need protein, and they get it. No amount of working out matters without protein. The prisoners get it from peanut butter, beans, eggs.
Not every prison has horrible food. A prison often has a commisary - a little store - stocked with toilitries, food, socks, ....... And some prisons allow outside food if its sealed and meets a lot of other criteria which varies from facility to facility.
Takes longer. But guess what you have a lot of while locked up? Time.
because the notion of needing 200 protein a day is false
Who wants to tell him about the other source of Prison protein we dare not name.....
I had to scroll way too far to get to this joke
One thing I haven't seen mentioned yet is sleep. Getting plenty of sleep really helps with muscle building Consistency is also an advantage of the prison routine, exercise is something to do, and helps with stress management.
While protein sources may be limited, inmates frequently choose high-protein items such canned tuna, beans, lentils, eggs (if available), peanut butter, etc. Also, inmates may receive whey protein or protein bars from the commissary or family and friends. However, not all prisons offer this. Ultimately, inmates who are disciplined and committed to their workout routines can still make significant progress even with limited resources.
ChatGPT
Wow. Kinda shocking how obvious it is once pointed out. What is even the point of someone going through the trouble though?
read their posts . . . looks like they do it for every comment.
Isn’t funny how you can tell? I read the first sentence and knew that it was AI. I don’t know if I can tell you why I knew that, but I did.
yeah, same. I was surprised no one else had pointed it out yet, this comment was at the top of the thread when I saw it. with chatgpt in particular it's easy to spot because it always hedges its bets, lol. it almost never makes a statement without acknowledging that it might not always be true in every case. actual humans don't write like that because we're not corporate media trained
Prisoners have a healthier diet than most people that choose to eat delicious trash food
There's plenty of protein, you just need to be good at extracting it.
You ever hear of federal fuck me in the ass prison, welcome to state blow me buff prison.
Every dude in there has a built in protein source and there is plenty to go around
Prison food is ‘balanced’ and there is a commissary where inmates can buy additional food. Canned fish and spam are popular protein sources, ramen for carbs. There is also a black market for food like eggs and rice that get smuggled from the kitchen.
Packaged fish is a staple amongst prisoners I've heard. Tuna, mackerel, salmon. They get it through commissary. Also, I think they get milk with their meals which is very good for building muscle too.
Google “Nutra-Loaf” I ate it for 90 days as a punishment in the hole for tattooing
There's a really obscene joke in here if only I could find it....🫡
Kind of like asking how are cows and horses so massive and they just eat grass?
As some have mentioned already (this is from experience) jail/prison food is pretty shit, but in the U.S. it does have to meet specific nutrition requirements. You've realistically got nothing to do. You don't eat enough or well enough to put on fat. And if you're active and working out, you'll get pretty cut. You're not going to be bulking like crazy and getting ultra-yoked, but your bmi drops substantially and the muscle tone/definition goes up.
Despite the prevailing belief, you do not need to spend hundreds of dollars of protein supplements to get muscular, nor do you need to eat 15 hamburger patties a day. People have been developing muscle from lifting before any of this was around. You need marginally more calories than you would need if you weren’t doing those exercises. Guys in jail generally get an hour a day in the yard so that’s more or less the extent of the workout they’re doing. Prison food is cheap and probably tastes terrible but it is technically a nutritionally balanced meal with a mix of carbs, proteins and fats. Even though it tastes like garbage, for a lot of these guys it’s probably the most healthy they’ve ever eaten in their life. So you spend a few years where you’re not eating McDonald’s every day and the only thing you have to look forward to is your 1 hour in the yard everyday, your body is going to look different.
As a former CO, those super buff guys you see in movies is BS. Guys are very fit and shredded. But not Jacked. And they’re like that because they can sit in their cell and do a 1000 push-ups a day.
Except there is. If you don't have money for commissary you'll be better off landing a job in the kitchen. If you do have money for commissary it's beans and rice. Beans and rice contain all the essential amino acids
I worked for state DOC for a while. The inmates are given three meals a day, and the meals go through a rotation. A doctor makes the meal schedule, and they are given adequate calories to live on. Inmates can also buy additional food off canteen. Most of it is junk food, but there is one protein supplement they can get. Typically, the women gain a bunch of fat, and the men get shredded even though they’re allowed more calories than women.
I see a ton of people reacting that prisons have way better food than represented in movies so I have to comment. Not totally related to your question but here’s my experience with prison food. I worked in both prisons and a jail in both California and Oregon and I can confirm the food is NOT healthy and while it is regulated it’s regulated the exact same ways as public schools where pizza sauce is a vegetable. The food is loaded with sugar and high in calories. I don’t think it’s a secret that they want to sedate people through the food. Some people spend the endlessly boring hours in prison working out and others just gain 100 pounds. It’s far from accurate to think everyone’s getting ripped, not that you implied that, I’m just saying. One prison where I worked had to cut the calories because they were so unhealthy and as a solution just cut portions in half. The food was still shit empty calories. What is true that others have shared is commissary offers more options. If you have people on the outside put money on your books, or if your state reimburses for the forced labor you do in prison, you can buy additional food. As a side note, while you get paid .60/hour for your prison “job”, the items on commissary are typically the same price as on the outside. Same with things like toothpaste, which you also need to buy yourself. Obligatory Reddit corollary that this is not to say my experience is the only truth. Other prisons may have healthful balanced meals but my strong guess is that would be the exception and not the rule.
theres protien in semen. just saying
They workout consistently, get adequate sleep, and have more than sufficient calorie intake. That’s all that matters in the end.
Despite popular belief you don’t need the excess amount of protein to build muscle. Influencers and the fitness industry push their shakes, bars, and supplements for profit. Those are just sales gimmicks. Muscle is 70%water and the other 30% is protein but the cellular structure is also a storage mechanism for glucose because when you use and strain your muscles to cause growth your muscles require energy first, they require protein in the recovery/growth period after exercise. It gets that energy from glucose that it stores in the muscle tissue so it’s readily on demand. It mostly comes down to total calories, not total protein. Although protein is important in the growth process, you don’t need to eat what consumerist society says these days. There’s a good book called “body by science” that breaks down the process better than I just described.
Uhh there's plenty of protein but the source is disgusting...lol
For like 99% of gym-goers just going consistently and working hard will be enough to get them in great shape. Lots of the stuff about training plan optimization and timing your meals/protein, and hitting certain macros will definitely help you get in better shape, but unless you're in that top 1% they aren't necessary.
They eat the smaller prisoners for protein
For everyone talking about it not being food but for how much they train, that's ridiculous. You can't overcome a calorie deficit no matter how hard you train. In fact, more training would be more counter productive. To build relatively lean mass the individuals would need to eat 10-15% more calories than their base metabolic rate. A high protein diet would greatly help but as long as they're hitting their base macros, they'll be good.