Latino Inmates’ Request for Hot Stuff Gets a Chilly Response

Chili peppers are becoming a hot issue at Orange County Jail, where Latino inmates are demanding more Mexican-style food.

They are much more than just a condiment, the inmates have told the Sheriff’s Department, which operates the jail--they are a “way of life” so fundamental that they should be treated as a religion.

Just as state prisons and county jails throughout California provide special kosher food for Jewish prisoners and vegetarian meals for Hindus, the Latino inmates said in a recent petition, Orange County Jail should supply them with more of the food of their heritage.

And if the request for Mexican meals is not acceptable, the petition suggests, the inmates should at least be provided with salsa and Tabasco Sauce.

The petition, signed by 62 inmates, was presented to Sheriff’s Capt. Al Massucci at the jail two weeks ago. Last week, the Sheriff’s Department rejected the idea after the county counsel’s office ruled that the sheriff was not legally required to provide salsa.

Said Sheriff’s Lt. Richard J. Olson: “What you’ve got to think of anytime you put something on those tables is that it’s a potential weapon. We run security in the jails; how would you like to have one of those things (chili peppers) stuck in your eye?”

But Bob Gore, spokesman for the state Department of Corrections, said that state prisons serve salsa and peppers with some meals. He said that he has never heard that the spices were considered a security problem and that he does not know of any incidents in which a chili pepper was used as a weapon.

Jack Pederson, a field representative with the state Board of Corrections, had the same response. He also said that many county jails serve salsa and chili peppers and that state guidelines even recommend such spices to improve the taste of the food.

“In a place like Los Angeles, where you’re obviously serving a large number of Chicanos, it would seem to be a reasonable option,” Pederson said. “But it’s certainly up to the county.”

Pederson said many county jails prepare special meals for inmates with certain religious beliefs. But Olson said Orange County Jail does not. It provides special meals only for medical reasons.

Thomas F. Maniscalco, a former lawyer now in jail awaiting trial in a triple murder case, prepared the petition and submitted it to the Sheriff’s Department. He said that inmates plan to appeal the county’s rejection of their request with help from the American Civil Liberties Union or by trying to get a court order themselves.

Since the petition was submitted, Maniscalco said, another 250 signatures have been collected and were given to the Sheriff’s Department on Monday.

In the petition, the inmates estimated that the Latino population in the central men’s jail in Santa Ana is at least 60% out of the roughly 1,400 prisoners. Based on those numbers, the inmates’ first request is that at least 60% of the meals be prepared in a spicy, Mexican style.

Olson said, however, that the Sheriff’s Department estimates that only 30% to 35% of the jail population is Latino.

“It is formally proposed that all aggrieved inmates would be mollified if simply that a spread made of the hot vegetable commonly known as ‘chili’ and referred to as ‘salsa’ (as well as) the extracts known and marketed as ‘Tabasco Sauce’ be made available in the chow hall to be added in the manner of a seasoning,” the petition says.

Currently, Orange County inmates are served one Mexican-style dinner a month--a plate of tamales with Spanish rice. But Maniscalco said it is spiced with bell peppers and tomato sauce, not chili peppers and salsa.

The petition also includes an article on chili peppers from the May issue of the magazine, A Healthy Man’s Guide to Living. The article is entitled “The Fire and the Passion.”

Of chili peppers, the article says: “In Mexico, the old cliche is true: it’s a way of life. Not only is the chili found in every type of food imaginable (including ice cream), but it’s also a traditional medicine, a sexual symbol, a drug, a religious icon and even a source of consolation for the downtrodden.”

Olson said jail meals are prepared according to state and national health standards that were set by expert nutritionists. He said all of the food served in the jails “meets or exceeds” the nutritional standards that the jail is required to provide.

The dinner at the main jail Sunday night was corned beef with rye bread, a green salad, mashed potatoes, milk and a cookie. Lunch Monday was sliced turkey on bread with gravy, mashed potatoes and milk.

Pederson said the state guidelines suggest that county jails plan their meals to include four basic food categories: a meat, bread, vegetable and drink, usually milk.

Maniscalco said some of the main courses in the dinners served at Orange County Jail include breaded fish sticks, spaghetti, ham, hot dogs, hamburgers and meatballs.