By C1 Staff
FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — The practice of Nutra Loaf is coming under scrutiny again after it was featured in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Facility episode of “Lockup Extended Stay.”
Nutra Loaf, also simply known as “the loaf” to inmates, is a mix of various foods combined together into an edible brick that officials say has the vitamins and nutrients needed by law, and is considered a punishment due to its texture and lack of taste. It is usually given to inmates in segregation.
According to Fairfax Times, a detention center spokesperson got online to field questions from the public after the “Lockup” episode aired.
“Not all inmates in segregation are given the Nutra Loaf,” said Steve Elbert. “If an inmate is found guilty at a disciplinary hearing, our Internal Classification Committee holds a separate administrative hearing to evaluate the need for a ‘special’ diet. The possibility of having to eat the loaf for three meals a day is an incentive for inmates to cooperate and follow the rules.”
As recently as 1973, the facility has disciplined inmates by feeding them only bread and water.
“A three-day bread-and-water diet was a common disciplinary measure of that time,” said Katharine Little, Fairfax County’s longest-serving deputy sheriff. She retired in 2010.
Courts eventually ruled that feeding inmates only bread and water was unethical due to its lack of nutrition, but also ruled that as long as a suitable substitute such as the loaf contained the legal amount of nutrients, its contents could vary, and being delicious was certainly not a requirement.
At least 12 states serve some version of Nutra Loaf as a disciplinary measure. Many human rights advocates say it remains unethical to use food as a punishment in this way, but the law disagrees.
Elbert said he himself had tried “the loaf;” he called it edible, but bland.
“It’s one of the most nutritious meals that we serve in the Adult Detention Center.”
“Lockup Extended Stay” is a reality television show in which a TV camera crew spends several months inside facilities throughout the U.S., culminating in six one-hour episodes that depict the reality of day-to-day life within those facilities.