Eric's demands from the Sacramento County Mail Jain

Eric McDavid is requesting that the Sacramento County Main Jail provide him and future vegan prisoners with a healthy diet that does not consist of animal products and byproducts. This healthy diet will be provided to individuals requesting it due to their moral, ethical and religious needs.

Eric’s request should not be difficult to accommodate, as he has been provided vegan meals in the past.* A sample of an acceptable meal plan for a day is listed below.

Breakfast: plain oatmeal or cornmeal (no butter or milk), available fruit side, potatoes or rice (when available), one piece of fresh fruit

Lunch: two full pieces of celery (enough peanut butter to fill each), two pieces of fresh fruit

Dinner: Beans and rice (at least 3x a week), salad with oil and vinegar the remaining nights, available fruit side, available cooked vegetable side, 1/2 fresh tomato, side of fresh vegetable (carrot, broccoli, cucumber)

All of these things were provided to Eric on his previous diet

* Other jails and prisons routinely provide prisoners with vegan diets, including many California county jails (such as San Francisco, Marin, and San Mateo counties). The San Francisco jail changed its policy in 1999 after a letter writing campaign on behalf of a vegan inmate. Sheriff Michael Hennessey was quoted in the press as saying, “I’ve got to admit my own ignorance about vegetarianism and the depth of commitment that people have to this… From what I’ve since learned, I’m convinced that their beliefs are sincere and they’re not trying to manipulate the system.” Florida prisons use vegan diets to meet the needs of a variety of religious and special diets for prisoners, as a way to satisfy everything from halal to kosher to Seventh Day Adventist.