By Beatriz Alvarado
Corpus Christi Caller-Times
CORPUS CHISTI — Hot tap water, Ramen noodles, Fritos, canned sausage and cheese.
The concoction is one of many that supplement the distaste to bland food served at Nueces County Jail, Sheriff Jim Kaelin said.
“It’s jail culture, they don’t want to eat what comes out of the kitchen; that’s usually the No. 1 complaint,” he said.
The meals served three times a day on an aluminum thermal tray are as appealing as their presentation, Kaelin said.
But that will never change.
“When you serve 1,000 plus inmates you don’t worry about presentation,” Kaelin said. “There are no sprigs of pretty and tasty things on it, and we’re not going to season it up. They don’t make jail food that way.”
Instead, detention centers provide inmates the privilege of purchasing commissary items — varying from envelopes and postage stamps to spices — that give those behind bars a taste of home and create some revenue for the jail.
Ramen noodles are a staple.
The noodles, Honey Buns, coffee and jalapeño pretzels made the list of favored delicacies for inmates.
And the revenue, Kaelin said, is not something to complain about.
The Nueces County commissary brings in more than $900,000 annually with the Inmate Benefit Trust Fund receiving about 41 percent. Statewide, prisoners spent more than $95 million on commissary items in 2010, according to Texas Tribune data.
“Our business has grown,” he said of the about $400,000 in sales revenue the jail directs to the inmate fund.
When he took over as sheriff in 2006, the trust averaged about $60,000.
The fund this year paid for improvements to the jail’s camera system and labor for its installation as well as laptops and a printer for its first inmate re-entry program, Kaelin said.
More than $500,000 was spent on upgrading 92 of its cameras and adding 122 to the jail’s surveillance system, Kaelin said. And about $6,000 was spent on the jail’s résumé writing course, which coaches inmates for job preparedness after release.
“The money can only be spent on things which directly benefit inmates,” Kaelin said.
Expenses also have been directed to uniforms, blankets, hygiene kits, towels, mattresses, jailhouse sandals and more.
“We’re the biggest hotel in South Texas,” Kaelin said. “But people that come here don’t come in with an overnight bag.”
TOP SALES AT THE COMMISSARY
1. Maruchan Ramen, lime shrimp
2. Maruchan Ramen, chili
3. Maruchan Ramen, hot and spicy vegetable
4. Maruchan Ramen, chicken
5. Iced monster honey bun
6. Maruchan Ramen, Texas beef
7. Freeze-dried Colombian coffee
8. Postage stamped large envelope
9. Sweet Mate pink sweetener
10. Snyder’s jalapeño pretzels