Do Students Eat Worse Than Prisoners?
This graphic, by GOOD, shows the difference between a prison lunch and a school lunch. Both are roughly the same cost (just over $2.60) and contain about the same amount of calories (around 1400). But surprisingly, prisoners get more items to eat and healthier options, with 1/2 cup of vegetables and one serving of fruit or dessert, compared to the school children’s 1/2 cup of vegetables or fruit.
School food programs’ yearly federal budget is a lot higher than the budget for prison food ($11 billion compared to $205 million). The food at the two institutions is roughly the same cost and calorie count but prisoners get more healthy items than school children. Should there be a bigger push for healthier school lunches? One nine-year old student in Scotland thinks so- she even created a blog about the state of school lunches.

