Tuesday, September 23, 2014
COLUMBUS (AP) — Ohio’s prisons agency is working with the private vendor hired to feed inmates to develop a new menu for the fall and winter, the state said today as it also announced a tougher evaluation standard.
Inmates and staff were surveyed about current foods they like and dislike, along with items they want eliminated or added, according to a list of responses by the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction to recommendations by a legislative oversight committee.
The agency also said it has raised the bar for determining when Philadelphia-based Aramark Correctional Services must take action based on evaluations. Previously, action plans were required if evaluation scores fell below 80 percent. The agency has raised that to 84 percent, according to the recommendations provided by agency director Gary Mohr.
Aramark has also agreed to an eight-hour food service training program for company supervisors, and will also send supervisors to a six-day prisons training academy.
The state is deducting the cost of that training from a $130,200 fine it levied on the company in July, in “the spirit of continuing forward progress and partnership” to ensure Aramark complies with its contract.