Peppers Cool Jail Clamor for Spices

After weeks of waiting, there was a hot time in the Orange County Jail on Wednesday night when inmates were served up a spicy meal with honest-to-goodness chili peppers.

Since June, hundreds of inmates have signed petitions. Inmates even filed a claim in court requesting that they be served more Mexican food or, at least, some hot peppers or hot sauce.

Thomas F. Maniscalco, an attorney awaiting trial in a triple slaying case, said Thursday that the peppers were served with the dinner in the central men’s jail in Santa Ana.

Maniscalco wrote the court petition, which claimed that the lack of chili peppers had even created a black market in the hot stuff.

The petition charged that the lack of Mexican food and hot sauce was discriminatory because of the large Latino population in the jail.

Previously, the jail served a dinner of tamales once a month. But the inmates said the jail variety was “bland, commercial and unseasoned.”

In June, when the prisoners first petitioned the Sheriff’s Department to provide the spicy stuff, the department’s administrators said the law did not require them to provide peppers. Furthermore, a Sheriff’s Department spokesman said administrators were concerned that the hot peppers could be used as a weapon against deputies.

Maniscalco’s petition responded: “We the inmates are unaware of any escapes perpetrated with these peppers or of any inmate or deputy who has been assaulted or injured in any way with them. They are simply to be eaten and enjoyed.”

Sheriff’s Department officials were unavailable for comment Thursday.