I recently went to jail in the US unexpectedly (I wont say why sorry). As I was getting booked they asked about allergies etc. I had the notion to tell them I was allergic to dairy and meat since it sounded more solid than religious reasons. (although I genuinely do not know how my body would react to animal products after 11 years without them) I ended up being locked up for 60 days but I actually had no idea how long I would be in there for, I’ve never been “in trouble” before and I kept expecting to get out the next day.
The first 3 days were the worst mentally, there were cockroaches crawling around the cell and my bunk mate was literally farting and snoring like you wouldn’t believe and people nearby were constantly screaming in pain from withdraws and being cold. I wasn’t given any food that was vegan despite me listing the allergy. I would mention my allergy to the guards aka correction officers but they just gave me the run around. I think day 4 or 5 everyone got a peanut butter jelly sandwich which was a huge moment for me (ha) but usually it was some kind of meat sandwich and cow milk/ hardboiled eggs. I basically only ate some cookies, bread, and water for 7 days.
I got moved into general population after being in that intake cell area, where they actually had veggie burgers and green beans. This was super exciting for the first… 5 days or so but it got disgusting fast as it was the ONLY thing I got every day (besides cereal and water for breakfast lol)….I don’t know how to describe jail veggie burgers, its just a patty and bun nothing else -there’s something in them that have this super weird taste and I’m not a picky eater. but trust me its not good and I kinda have nightmares about them now lol. it also felt bad that everyone else got to have a 2nd source of nutrition/ flavor which was cold boxed milk for breakfast/lunch. its nice that I got to trade it for things but there was literally no fruit obtainable whatsoever and I could tell my diet was massively lacking nutritional value.
Luckily there is this thing called commissary where if friends or family send you money on your account you can buy random stuff like Oreos and peanut butter/jelly/ramen etc. I would often trade my milk for ramen or whatever (sometimes trading veggie burgers because that was a new flavor for some people and I often just couldn’t stomach them) but the food options were extremely limited and basically only PB+J / ramen, but I had to ration it because I only had so much $ and things to trade plus its smart to not make big orders or people will target you for having stuff.
Since I have been vegan for over a decade I wasn’t about to break that plus the thought of eating animal products disgusts me, especially since I felt EXACTLY like an animal in a cage. I kept holding out because I know people can water fast for month(s?) but I was almost at my breaking point. If I had to be in there for a year or more I don’t know if it would be possible. I think it would be possible to do more trades like washing peoples socks for ramen, etc. and I could have maybe obtained more calories but my approach was to do minimal workouts and sleep as much as possible to conserve energy haha. ( I would be very curious what a nutritionists perspective here would be)
I’m not sure if its when people are lacking mental stimulation or if its just not having good food to eat, but food becomes an obsession. I don’t think I once thought about sex or other vices but I thought about food almost constantly. The thing I fantasized about the most was a smoothie or cold juice or cold clean water. There is some serious motivation to have new flavors, but really very little you can do about it. Luckily there were books to keep my mind somewhat busy, I think I read over 60 although many were cheesy romance novels I was basically forced to read haha.
I actually don’t remember if I told people I was vegan or not, I probably just told people at first I cant eat it and left it at that but there are no secrets in a place like that and I did end up talking about it with some people. The funny thing is some of the “big bad” dudes in there were the most receptive to hearing about veganism, I think because its super easy to relate to being that animal in a cage when you ARE an animal in a cage. its also easy to talk story and share beliefs etc. because honestly everyone’s kind of bored ha. Nobody hassled me about it tho which is kinda ironic because I bet more people get hassled about it at work lol.
I was already a skinny person and by the end of it I lost at least 20 pounds, you could see my ribs and I kinda just looked like one of those starving children lol. OK not quite that bad but when I finally bailed out I think I went a little overboard on food as I gained all my weight back and then some. I am back to normal now and luckily all my charges were eventually dropped but it really seems to be one of those issues no one cares about until it happens to you. I’m grateful for the humbling experience and lessons. At least now I know you can cook ramen inside the package with only warm water and can claim I actually have read some books haha.
Not all animals locked in a cage have fur, and not all inmates are animals
If there’s anything I want people to get out of this its to not take your food and freedoms for granted.
Can we petition for more vegan options in jail or something? (and maybe donate a good book 
) I wonder if anyone else has had similar experiences or if some jails are better and have things like fruit lol
I’m not sure why this got removed before but I’m posting it again oh well.