​Everyone knows that prison food isn't exactly the stuff that gastronomic fantasies are made of, but apparently it's bad enough to incite inmates to actual violence. The Lexington Herald-Leader reports that a corrections officer told Kentucky lawmakers that the August riot at the Northport Training Center was planned by prisoners who were angry about the food being served in the cafeteria. The testimony came as the lawmakers worked to pass a bill that would cancel the state's contract with the food services corporation Aramark, which has been the food provider for Kentucky's prisons since 2005.

Apparently the cafeteria's offerings were so bad that prisoners were betting over more expensive packaged food from the prison canteen, which led to various security problems. And according to lawmakers, the inmates had good reason to riot: one Kentucky prison served soup filled with worms, while another dished out burritos tainted with human feces, and at yet another, an Aramark supervisor approved brownies containing the same mystery ingredient.

On its company website, Aramark proclaims that it "endeavors to go beyond for its clients, delivering solutions to critical issues like recidivism, officer morale and retention, safety and security, and inmate behavior and health." The benefit of poop brownies and worm soup to "inmate behavior and health" is questionable, but they certainly do "go beyond" -- the pale, that is.

[Via The Food Times]