Pamela Anderson has sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown urging him to slash the budget and combat the drought by cutting meat from the menus of state prisons — and offering to serve lunch to inmates as she did at a vegetarian jail in Arizona.
“As a resident of Los Angeles, I’m proud of your admirable prison reform efforts, designed to reduce the rate of mass incarceration,” she wrote. "Over the past three years, they’ve inspired other states to follow California’s lead. I have a suggestion that dovetails nicely with the progress that you’ve made so far while also addressing the state’s budget and water crises. Since California has more than 127,000 inmates, you could save taxpayers about $4.3 million a year and greatly improve the health of the prisoners by switching to nutritious vegan meals in correctional facilities.
“These huge tax savings are based on the $273,000 in reduced costs reported by the Maricopa County Jail in Arizona, when it switched to all-vegetarian food for its 8,000 inmates. Last year, I went there with representatives of PETA to serve lunch to the prisoners and can report that they were impressed by the freshness and quality of the food. Beans, rice, lentils, pasta, potatoes and other vegetables, and oranges and other fruits have all the nutrients that a person needs but at a fraction of the cost of meats and cheeses. If California follows Arizona’s lead in switching to meat-free meals in prisons, I’d be happy to inaugurate the program by helping cook lunch and serve it to inmates.
“By taking meat off the menu in all 33 state-run prisons, you’d be dramatically reducing the amount of water used to produce prisoners’ meals. It takes more than 2,400 gallons of water to produce just 1 pound of meat. I recently posed for this ad for PETA in order to draw attention to the meat and dairy farms that drain half our country’s water.
“It’s heartening to know that you’re improving the state’s prison system. I hope you use this suggestion as one way of achieving that end while also addressing the budget and water crises. PETA and I would be happy to work with your team in order to create a low-cost meal plan for your correctional facilities, as we did in Arizona. I hope to have the opportunity to help you launch it.”
