You won't starve: meals at the Ingham County Jail

... but you will lose weight. Assuming you're an average size male, you'll be fed a diet that's intended for someone 20% lighter.

This is intentional. If you are a regular inmate, this forces you to buy food from the commissary. I'll explain how that works in another posting. By feeding you less than you need to maintain your weight, the Ingham County Jail ensures that inmates will spend precious money on honey buns, granola bars, or peanut butter crackers.

If you're lucky, after a while, you may become a jail worker, known in other places as "trustee" status. If you do, they will feed you more. They'll add a sandwich to the too-little hot meal. If you've worked hard that day, say, shoveling snow, they may even give you an extra meal.

The bottom line: if you are a regular inmate, ICJ won't feed you enough food, so you'll have to buy snacks to get the calories a typical person needs. If you become a worker, ICJ will feed you more. After all, if you starve the ox he can't work.