Hot Fare Called Unrelated to Complaint : Peppers Came From County Jail’s Farm

The long, skinny green chili peppers that delighted inmates in the Orange County central jail at dinner on Wednesday were grown by inmates on the farm at the minimum-security jail near El Toro, sheriff’s officials said Friday.

Lt. Richard J. Olson said, however, that the hot peppers were not offered in response to a court petition signed by hundreds of inmates requesting they be served more Mexican food and hot spices.

He said it was merely a case of the prisoners eating whatever is grown by the farm at the James A. Musick branch jail. It just happened to be chili peppers.

“It’s just a matter of routine,” Olson said. “When they’re available, they’ll be served.”

Olson said he could not comment on the prisoners’ lawsuit while it is still pending in court.

Inmate Thomas F. Maniscalco, a jail house lawyer awaiting trial in connection with a triple murder, said of the peppers Friday: “Everybody loved it. They were ecstatic about it. They’ll talk about it for a week.

“I know the jail doesn’t like this,” he said, “but some people smuggled (saved)the ones they got (Wednesday)and used it to season the food they got today.”

The meal served for dinner Wednesday was roast beef with mashed potatoes, turkey stuffing and rolls. So Maniscalco said many inmates used the peppers at Wednesday night’s dinner to spice up roast beef sandwiches made with the meat and the rolls.

Maniscalco wrote the complaint that is pending in Superior Court. He maintained that the lack of chili peppers and spices served at the jail was racially discriminatory because of the large Latino population in the facility.