Letter to the Superintendent. May 6, 2005

To: Deputy Superintendent of Administration

From: Prison Pete

I was told by the staff of the commissary that I should write to you about additional items for the commissary.

In order to provide some healthier options, I would respectfully request your consideration for adding the following items:

1. Brown Rice - According to the United States Department of Agriculture, brown rice has 3.5 grams of fiber per cup while white rice has only .6 grams. The availability of the brown rice would be beneficial to those of us that are trying to increase the amount of fiber in our diets.

2. Mrs. Dash seasoning - This is a natural, no MSG, no salt, brand of spices. They offer several different combinations. The can goods currently sold in the commissary tend to be rather high in salt. The only seasoning currently available is Sasson, which contains MSG, and Adobo which has salt as the primary ingredient.

It is my understanding that the current institutional policy prohibits inmates from receiving either of the above items in food packages.

3. Pretzels - There is currently no low fat/low sugar snack food on the PC commissary list. We have plenty of chips (high fat) and cookies (high fat and sugar) but no type of "healthier" snack food.

4. Low fat single serving mackerel - While in the federal prison system, I was able to lower my cholesterol over thirty points, from 205 down to 175, by using the mackerel as a high protein, low fat main course in my meals. The particular single serving we used was around 110 calories, 20 of them were fat calories and there was 21 grams of protein.

I want to thank you in advance for your consideration of this issue.

Thank you.  ¶ 8:09 AM