Carolynne Noffsinger-07/06/2025

All content on this profile—including journal entries, book reports, and release plans—was provided by the individual user. Prison Professors Charitable Corp. does not pre-screen, verify, or endorse any user submissions and assumes no liability for their accuracy.

Journal Entry

Prison Fat Camp

That is my nickname for this prison. We have gone three weeks now with sack dinners comprised of 4 slices of bread, a slice of bologna or turkey deli meat OR a packet of tuna, a packet of peanut butter, a small cube of grape jelly, expired pouches of lemonade or fruit punch (that are moldy), a bag of BBQ chips, a small container of canned fruit and either a nutrigrain bar, a package of poptarts or a soft chips ahoy cookie. They do not have enough staff here at this prison to have a late afternoon guard here, and are trying any way they can to cut costs, so this is their new daily meal plan moving forward. We are offered a breakfast, lunch and then get our sack dinners with our lunches. I only eat the lunches offered three times a week, as most are not very good. Needless to say, I am not participating in the sack dinners any longer.

I now am starting my morning off with water, and have 2 protein shakes that I buy at the commissary every day. I already have lost 58 pounds here prior to the sack dinner boycott, so we will see what this new diet plan does. I do scope out if they have fresh fruit at lunch time, and get the apples, or salad if they offer it at lunch (that happens once a month). The morning meal is offered between 6:30 and 7:15am, so it is rare I will go down for it, as it’s usually grits or oatmeal. I occasionally will eat lunch if there is chicken, but often it is too salty, so I have to avoid it.

Not complaining- don’t get me wrong- we are in fact, in prison. So I am grateful for any sustenance they offer here. I am calling this place a prison fat camp though, because if you needed to lose weight, you definitely can here if you don’t buy a bunch of junk food and sodas from the commissary and drink lots of water.

But as a chef, I miss food. I miss fresh vegetables and fruit and food prepared with care and healthier options. I miss cooking too. Especially for my family. Someone asked me in here last week some of the recipes I prepare at home, and their eyes opened wide, saying- “that sounds like a lot of work”. It doesn’t feel like a lot of work when you love what you do. And various spices and unique flavors are a palate pleaser for sure. One of the things that brings me joy is preparing a meal for the ones I love and them grateful for what I have made them. So that is one thing I look forward to most once leaving here.

Let’s see how much more weight I lose with my new boycott of sack dinners. 🙂