How KFC Gives Prisoners a Taste of Normal Life

“I said a silent prayer, asking for the strength to get through another day of being incarcerated, and climbed down from my steel bunk, ready to navigate the gossip, fighting, and ordinary drama that come with prison life.”

Fast food makes its way to a prison slowly, but the rare chance we inmates have to eat burgers and chicken is a reminder of how simple changes in daily routines could make American prisons more humane.

Don’t get me wrong—I’m not suggesting that prisoners need all the salt and fat that makes fast food so hard to resist but, rather, that allowing prisoners a taste of normal life is psychologically healthy.

The story of one recent day in Washington Corrections Center in Shelton demonstrates this.

I woke up that day, as always, looking at the stained concrete walls of my prison cell. I said a silent prayer, asking for the strength to get through another day of being incarcerated, and climbed down from my steel bunk, ready to navigate the gossip, fighting, and ordinary drama that come with prison life. Slipping into my shower shoes, I grabbed my towel, toothbrush, and toothpaste and headed toward the bathroom.

Much of prison life is predictable. That morning, I would expect to see the prisoner Big Mike (yes, the nickname reflects his size) sitting at his table, hunched over a book. Snook, a 75-year-old prisoner who has been incarcerated for more than 50 years, would be lounging in his usual chair. Other prisoners would be sitting lethargically at the steel tables with their earbuds; loud music is a common coping mechanism that helps incarcerated individuals psychologically prepare for another day.