the following is from a mother of a man formerly detained at Durham jail and now in a state prison:
…Somehow all the families of those in prisons/jails need to bind together as “one voice” about the injustices and demanding for change. The system does not work to keep marriages and families together but rather works to tear them apart further by sending them far enough away from the families that it makes greater hardships on the family members to see them…as if it’s not hard enough having them here!
And- they take the food in prisons that the tax payers pay for and if the prisoners have left over food… Apple or orange or whatever…the prisons will not allow them to take them to their room to eat between meals or at night…the prisons throw it away! Now they give this food to them on the trays so why cannot they not keep and eat it? Because the prisons are a money racket! They want they to buy food from the canteen! They want you to pay the extra to put money in their accounts, extra money for phone cards to call home. Money everytime they are seen for the dentist or doctor.
Many think jail/prison is free…NOT! And the burden falls upon the families!!
We as the families must start a petition or something to send to Senators, Governors, the President, to contact the news or whatever it takes! We must speak as “ONE VOICE!” We need someone or people who can somehow bind the families or people together to do this.
I have written the President, Governor, Senator, and Legislative person but not gotten any good response back. I write my state Senator and Legislative person frequently. We must be that “one voice” though so they will take us more seriously.
D.G.
Amplify Voices Inside 
Response from Senator Foushee’s office on throwing leftover food away that the prisoners could eat.
I do apologize for the delayed response but your concerns regarding food consumption required research. From the research done by Senator Foushee’s office, the Mountain Region Director of Prisons provided the following response to your concerns:
“In response to the concern that food items from the facility food service areas are prohibited from being taken out of the food service areas, I have reviewed this concern and provide the following. It is common practice that all food items be consumed in the food service area and being prohibited from taken out of the food service areas for a number of reasons that include: The reasoning behind this practice relates to many food items can spoil if not properly held, can lead to sanitation issues/bugs etc. if stored in inmate living quarters, many times food items are smuggled from the food service area and used as bartering and training items, and fruit items are commonly used to make an alcoholic wine commonly referred to by prison inmates as “buck”. Based on the following safety and security concerns, the carrying away of meal items from food service areas are prohibited unless specifically approved for operational or dietary purposes (i.e. feeding of inmate in cell due to their restrictive housing status or facility lockdown status, or when there is a medical order for a special diet or snack during times other than the scheduled general population meal period. I hope the above brings clarification to the concern.”
I hope this explained policy provides some degree of understanding why taking food from food services areas is prohibited.