Overview
- Local outlets published full festive menus obtained via FOI for prisons in Merseyside, Wales and Nottinghamshire, spanning Christmas Eve to New Year’s Day.
- Dishes range from traditional roast turkey and Christmas pudding to alternatives such as salmon fishcakes, Italian pasta bakes and vegan wellingtons.
- Menus detail halal, vegetarian and vegan choices to meet religious, cultural and medical requirements under prison rules.
- The Ministry of Justice states the holiday meals come from existing catering budgets at no extra cost to taxpayers and comply with national nutritional standards.
- Operational notes include prisoners pre-selecting meals, feeding roughly 1,450 men at HMP Birmingham and about 5,500 across six Welsh prisons, with some sites serving regular food on Christmas Eve.