The Oregon Department of Corrections Amid Covid-19 (Part Eight)
A glimpse into working in prison food service during the pandemic.
BY MICHAEL D. KELL
I’VE HEARD that OSHA likes to fine food service organizations for blatant and intentional disregard for state-mandated protocols related to the transmission of COVID-19. And as it happens that I’ve recently been offered the opportunity to observe ODOC’s Food Services Division, I thought I’d share what I’ve seen.
In describing this organization’s best efforts to meet our governor’s mandates here at the penitentiary in Salem, I’ll first state that it serves roughly 2,000 people three meals a day. That these 2,000 people live in a high-risk congregate living environment. And that taxpayers’ dollars are spent to effectively and efficiently spread this disease.
Let’s start with the kitchen. A room the size of a three-car garage with several large commercial ovens. There are four large steam pots, two large grills, two steam-heated buffet lines, three conveyor toasters, and two large prep tables. On top of that, this area typically contains half a dozen wheeled hot boxes, bread boxes, or carts at any given time. This means that more than half the floor space is taken up with equipment. The division employs around two dozen people to operate this kitchen at any one time. The general description of the melee otherwise known as serving a meal is two dozen people climbing over one another with maybe two or three wearing masks, if you’re lucky.
Next is the bakery. A room about the same size as the kitchen with a comparable lack of floor space. A description of the operating procedures mirrors that of the kitchen.
Let’s consider the butcher shop. A room the size of a single-car garage with 75% of its space taken by equipment. Sixteen people are utilized here to bump and grind their way through a shift with rarely anyone ever wearing a mask.
The vegetable room where things are uncased, washed, cut, and tubbed for the kitchen is the size of a bathroom and contains four individuals working, again, without masks.
And finally we have two storerooms, three walk-ins, and a freezer—all of these spaces typically used by a dozen or so workers, rarely masked. There is usually around a half dozen supervising staff in the whole establishment and we’re lucky to see one in three of them wearing protective face wear.
This has comprised the Food Services Division’s mitigation strategy since the onset of state mandates regarding COVID-19. A special note here: all of these areas come fully equipped with extensive video surveillance technology which stores data centrally with the department’s Investigations Branch. These videos are a matter of public record, as they are acquired in the normal daily operation of the facility.
This article is to be considered a formal complaint upon the issue and is to be filed with the OSHA organization. In fact I would encourage everyone concerned with the health and safety of the community both inside and outside the prison (see my other columns for details on this matter) to summarize the concerns of this article, and make a similar filing with:
OSHA: www4.cbs.state.or.us/exs/osha/hazrep/
Michael D. Kell is an inmate at Oregon State Penitentiary.
