Jail food not nutritious, inmate sues

An inmate at the Tamms Correctional Facility filed a civil rights complaint against the prison and its dietary manager alleging his meals are not nutritionally adequate.

Convicted of sexual assault, home invasion, burglary and battery of a peace officer, Marvin Rhoden filed suit in U.S. District Court Oct. 31, claiming the food he receives presents an immediate danger to his health because it is spoiled and rotten.

On the other hand, he also claims that he is not served enough food and at times he does not receive the proper condiments or proper tools to eat.

The suit claims that he has filed grievances since Oct. 28, 2004, but dietary manager Bonnie Sullivan has failed to respond appropriately in violation of the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution.

According to the complaint, Rhoden alleges that he is served only eight ounces of hot cereal. He wants juice that contains 30 percent fruit juice but only gets juice with 10 percent, stripping him of the vitamins he needs.

“Inmates at Tamms suffer irreparable harm and are in imminent danger of more harm to their health and well-being,” Rhoden’s handwritten complaint states.

Rhoden is seeking an injunction ordering the defendants to serve him three nutritionally adequate meals a day, monetary relief and anything else for which he deems entitled to receive.

The case has been assigned to Judge David Herndon.

Tamms is a super-maximum security prison.

05-CV-00782-DRH