Thanksgiving without turkey? That’s what’s in store for North Carolina’s prison inmates
A correctional officer delivers food to inmates in a medium custody cell block at Lanesboro Correctional Institution.
Charlotte Observer file photo
A family gathering isn’t the only thing North Carolina inmates will be missing this Thanksgiving. They’ll be getting no turkey.
That’s because an outbreak of avian flu has made it impossible for the prison system to buy enough turkey to feed the state’s 30,000 inmates, according to John Bull, a spokesman for the state Department of Public Safety.
“We need 40,000 pounds of turkey,” Bull said. “We can’t get it.”
Instead of turkey, Bull said, inmates will be able to feast on chicken, roast beef “and all the Thanksgiving trimmings.”
Sandra Hardee, executive director of NC CURE, an inmate advocacy group, said she’s not surprised there will be no turkey for those inside the prisons this year. What’s worse, she said, is that thousands of inmates will be eating their Thanksgiving meals alone in their cells.
That’s because about 2,500 inmates are currently in solitary confinement. And in some short-staffed prisons, Hardee said, even inmates who aren’t technically in solitary confinement are being forced to eat in their cells.
In recent months, about 40% of correctional officer positions have been vacant, the Charlotte Observer has reported.
“Eating the Thanksgiving meal by yourself doesn’t make you very thankful,” Hardee said.
