ACT Corrections Spokesman Stephen Franks said today that if the Corrections Department is serious about reducing the cost of prison inmates' food a good start would be to end the practice at many prisons of supplying a cooked breakfast.

Staff at prisons around the country have been given a target of $3.50 per inmate per day for food.

"I've asked a number of written Parliamentary questions on this subject. The answers show that a cooked breakfast can cost up to $1.10 more per breakfast than cereal, milk and toast.

"To provide all of the country's prison inmates with a cooked breakfast would spend an additional $1.4 million of taxpayers money.

"However, the answers to my questions also show that Ministry of Health guidelines actually recommend cereals and toast as meeting the inmates' requirements for healthy eating.

"Many hard working New Zealand families would see a cooked breakfast as a luxury - for special days only.

"Prisons aren't meant to be like hotels and prisoners aren't meant to be treated like guests. There's far too much money spent on treating offenders as if they are the victims. This will stop when ACT ends our loopy 30-year experiment in `treating' offenders instead of punishing them.

"Prisoners must be kept safe and healthy - not happy. We should be aiming for every prisoner to be deeply anxious to get out, and stay out, of prison," Stephen Franks said.

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