Did you know that people in prisons are around 6 times more likely to obtain a food borne illness than the general population (Marlow et al., 2017)? Aramark is one of the largest suppliers of prison food across the country. This company has repeatedly shown misconduct in their serving of food to prisoners. There are multiple cases of maggots (Egan, 2017) raw and rancid chicken (Agar, 2015), food shared by rats (Feldscher, 2015), recycled leftovers, has multiple lawsuits for making prisoners sick, has been fined multiple times for its unsanitary and unsafe working conditions, and has been recorded to take food out of the trash and rinse it off to be used again (Zoukis, 2015).

These inhumane conditions allow the prison system to continue to break down the minds and souls of those within it in order to keep them there to continue the cycle of legal slavery in this nation protected by the 13th amendment. This company runs two business on our beautiful Anderson campus, and our meal swipes give them more money every single day. I love our CFA as much as the next AU student, but we must call for a better way and end our ongoing support of such a horrific company. 

This petition is the call for the Anderson University Campus in South Carolina to end their ties with Aramark as a company until these fixes are implemented in our prison systems. 

References

Agar, J. (2015, April 08). Inmates' rotten chicken taco case against Aramark, Kent County heads to federal court. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapids/2015/04/inmates_rotten_chicken_taco_ca.html

Egan, P. (2017, November 06). More problems for state's prison food contractor: Maggots found in chow served to inmates. Retrieved from https://www.freep.com/story/news/local/michigan/2017/11/06/maggots-food-cotton-prison-jackson-michigan-trinity-services/825834001/

Feldscher, K. (2015, March 17). Aramark worker ordered prisoner to feed inmates at Michigan prison cake partially eaten by rodents. M Live. Retrieved from https://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/2015/03/inmates_at_mid-michigan_prison.html#incart_story_package
 

Marlow, M. A., Luna-Gierke, R. E., Griffin, P. M., & Vieira, A. R. (2017). Foodborne Disease Outbreaks in Correctional Institutions—United States, 1998–2014. American Journal of Public Health, 10(7), 1150-1156. doi:https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2017.303816
 

Zoukis, C. Z. (2015, December 2). Aramark's correctional food services: meals, maggots and misconduct. Prison Legal News. Retrieved from https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2015/dec/2/aramarks-correctional-food-services-meals-maggots-and-misconduct/