To the Editor:

As a group of formerly incarcerated and criminal justice reform leaders, we write to condemn the
January 6, 2019 article “​Government shutdown: Federal inmates feast on Cornish hens, steak
as prison guards labor without pay​.”

People in prison have nothing to do with the federal shutdown. It’s not like a Dickensian meal of
gruel for inmates on Christmas would have opened the government. Ironically for an article on
modern corrections, the article does nothing to achieve accountability for the responsible parties
and instead demonizes people in prison for a management issue that never solicits their input.

The mean-spirited and at points racist, nature of both the article and the quotes illuminate what
is wrong with the correctional system. If it were truly correctional, people inside would be treated
with human dignity and the contents of this meal – likely planned in October – would not be a
contentious issue (in addition, the history of the holiday meal goes back at least to the 1980’s).

Coincidentally, many prisons schedule a skeleton crew on these holidays, which maximizes the
number of officers enjoying the holidays at home. Considerable overtime pay is the punishment
for those officers needed to fill a holiday shift. And, many prisoners are left to eat their “special”
meal in close proximity to their toilet since a skeleton crew is not big enough to let prisoners join
one another for a holiday meal in the prison chow hall or dining room.

Author Kevin Johnson does not report having interviewed any formerly people like us as experts
on the topic of food and holidays in prison and that, along with the malice of his piece, is
problematic. USA Today needs to uphold the highest standards of journalism when reporting on
people who are rarely allowed to speak for themselves. What USA Today reported is not the
entire story.

Signed,
Signatories:

Joshua B. Hoe
Formerly Incarcerated Host of the Decarceration Nation Podcast
Steering Team, Nation Outside
Ypsilanti, MI

Kathy Morse
Formerly Incarcerated Advocate, co-founder Close Rosies Campaign
Point Pleasant Beach, NJ

Jessica Jackson-Sloan
Co-Director #cut50
Oakland, CA

Amy Povah
CAN-DO Foundation
Malibu, CA

Piper Kerman
Formerly incarcerated activist and author
Columbus Ohio

Topeka K. Sam
Founder
The Ladies of Hope Ministries

Glenn E. Martin
Formerly Incarcerated CJ Reform Advocate
NYC, NY

Alice Marie Johnson

Formerly Incarcerated Activist
Sentence Commuted by President Trump

Kevin Ring
Families Against Mandatory Minimums
Washington, D.C.

Nkechi Taifa Esq.

The Taifa Group LLC
Washington D.C.

Louis L. Reed
Formerly Incarcerated Activist
National Organizer #cut50

Angela Stanton-King and Alveda King

American King Foundation
Albany, GA

Tonja Honsey
We Rise Leadership Collective
Washington, DC

Gale Muammad
Women Who Never Give Up
New Jersey

Jason Hernandez
Crack Open the Door
Sentence Commuted by President Obama
McKinney, TX

David Safavian
American Conservative Union
Aexandria, VA

Weldon Angelos
Former music producer
Justice reform advocate

MN Freedom Fund
Minneapolis, MN

MN Prison Doula Project

Minneapolis, MN

Carol Leonard
Prison Reform Movement

Laura Whitehorn
Formerly Incarcerated Activist
RAPP, Release Aging People in Prison
New York, NY

Ivy Woolf-Turk
Project Liberation
New York, NY

Carolyn Christopher
Friends of Restorative Justice
Ann Arbor, Michigan

David Gornowski
Syndicated Columnist
FM/AM Host of A Neighbor’s Choice
Orlando, FL

Tray Johns
FedFam4Life
Greenacres, FL

Stephanie Landa and Dina Browner

Freedom Grow
Los Angeles, CA

Tiawana Brown
Beauty After The Bars
Charlotte, NC

Syrita Steib Martin

Operation Restoration
New Orleans, LA

Patty Berger
Let’s Start Inc.
St. Louis, MO

All of Us or None Stl.

St. Louis, MO

Women Incarcerated CURE

Fort Louden, PA

Chandra Bozelko
Columnist, Creators Syndicate

Ryan Lo
Founder of UnLabeled Digital Media

D'Marria Monday
Block Builderz
Tulsa, OK

Karen Garrison
Mommie Activist and Sons
Washington D.C.

Amanda DuBois JD
Founder
Civil Survival Project
Seattle, WA

Tarra Simmons
Formerly Incarcerated JD
Executive Director
Civil Survival Project

Lisa K Sangoi
Movement For Family Power

Beatrice Codianni
Sex Workers Allies Network
Reentry Central

Nerkia Jenkins
A Women’s Worth Project
Douglasville, GA

Diana Block
CCWP - California Coalition for Women

Vonya Quarles
Starting Over, Inc
Corona, CA

Maurenne Griese
CAN-DO Guardian Angel Program
Manhattan, KS
West End P.O.W.E.R
Pittsburgh, PA

Lamont Banks
A Just Cause
Executive Director

Beth Curtis
Life for Pot
Zanesville, OH

Jason Beck
AHHS
West Hollywood, CA

Nora Callahan
November Coalition
Colville, WA

LaVell Baylor
Freedom 4 Youth
Santa Barbara, CA

Fox and Rob Rich

Rich Family Ministries
New Orleans, LA

Malik King
Prison Outreach Coordinator - CANDO
Atlanta, GA

Veda Ajamu
Criminal Justice Reform activist
Memphis, TN

Gracie Walker
Sentence Commuted by President Obama
Fort Worth, TX

Shauna Barry-Scott
Sentence Commuted by President Obama
Youngstown, Ohio

Gail T. Smith
Women in Prison Project, The Correctional Association of New York
New York, NY

Cheryl Ward
Formerly Incarcerated
Criminal Justice reform activist
Los Angeles, CA

Patricia Williams
Criminal Justice Reform Activist
Boston, MA
Qiana Johnson
Life After Release
Prince George’s County, MD

Joel Barson
Co-host Decarceration Nation Podcast
Ypsilanti, MI

Sue Ellen Allen

Prison Expert
Scottsdale, AZ

Pauline Blake
Sentence Commuted by President Obama
Salt Lake City, UT

Carolyn Bell Williams

Sentence Commuted by President Obama
Oklahoma City, OK

Angie Jenkins
Sentence Commuted by President Obama
Ventura, CA

Mary Eldridge
Ann Arbor, MI

Susan Mason
What’s Next Washington
Seattle, WA

Leigh Baguley
Ann Arbor, MI

Jerry Walden
Ann Arbor, MI

Jill Becker M.D.

New York, NY

Christopher Poulos
State Reentry Council Director
Professor
Formerly White House
WA

Eric E. Sterling
Criminal Justice Policy Foundation
Silver Spring, MD

The Reverend Joe Summers

Episcopal Chuch of the Incarnation
Ann Arbor, MI

Kate Summers
Chicago Illinois
Mr. Five Mualimm-ak
Incarcerated Nation Corp.
NY, NY

Andrea James
The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls
Roxbury, MA

Ebony Underwood
We Got Us Now
NY, NY

Women’s Justice Circle

Baltimore, MD

Kimberly Haven
Baltimore, MD

The Refugee Donation Team - KC Branch

Kansas City, MO

Mindi Hall
Voices of the Cannibis War
Tacoma, WA

Holli Houghton
RDAP Prison Consultants
Washington D.C.

Amika Mota
Prison Reentry Director
Young Women’s Freedom Center
San Francisco, CA

Dr. Jay Borchert

Co-Founder Formerly Incarcerated College Graduates Network
Manhattan, NY

Victor T Gutierrez,Esq.
Miami, FLA

Aida C. Medina
Miami, FLA

Manuel Castel
Miami, FLA

Barbara Romero
Miami, FLA

Joshua Mason
Underground Scholars
Berkeley California

Michelle Jones
Formerly incarcerted
Lexington KY

Britnee Bartlett Webb

Daughter of Federal Inmate
#​cut50​ Empathy Partner
Salt Lake City, UT

Azzurra Crispino
co-founder of Prison Abolition and Prisoner Support (PAPS
Austin, TX
.
Tammy Van Dunk
Houston TX

Joe Watson
Communication Director
AFSC AZ