Prisoners at Britain’s highest security jails will have a health conscious New Year’s Day as they tuck into pakora wraps and poached fish fillets.
Inmates will start 2022 with predominantly meat-free and ethical meals as changing tastes in the outside world are reflected behind bars.
The seasonal menus at three Category A men’s jails include a diverse number of dishes that are mainly vegetarian or vegan.
At Wakefield, a detailed grid menu offers a vegan sausage roll and peanut butter bap for lunch on the first day of the new year. Alternatives are the cheese, bean and sausage slice and cheese bap or a tuna salad.
Dietary information is listed for every dish, denoting whether it contains items including molluscs, lupulin, sulphur dioxide, crustaceans, sesame seeds, tree nuts, soya and gluten.
On New Year’s Eve, choices include halal minced lamb and onion pie, vegetable sausages and mushy peas or a textured vegetable protein vegan hot pot. Inmates who fail to make choices have been told that they will be given a vegan meal by default.
The new year’s meals come at the end of a week that includes dishes such as a ‘chef’s choice’, tarka dahl and rice and vegan treacle slices and custard.
Prisoners at the jail in West Yorkshire include Jeremy Bamber, who killed five members of his own family, black cab rapist John Worboys and paedophile and former Lostprophets singer Ian Watkins.
Quorn fillets in tomato sauce are the vegan option for new year’s lunch at Frankland in County Durham.
Salmon and sauce is listed as a healthy alternative, along with the ‘ordinary’ mains of roast turkey and gammon or chipolata sausage and stuffing.
Halal diced pepper beef casserole is the final item on the jail’s festive menu, provided to Metro.co.uk by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) after requests under the Freedom of Information Act.
Wayne Couzens, who abducted, raped and murdered 33-year-old Sarah Everard, is among the inmates invited to choose.
The former police officer, 48, is reportedly on a segregated wing for vulnerable inmates at the jail.
Other notorious prisoners include serial killer and sex offender Levi Bellfield and Soham killer Ian Huntley.
At Belmarsh, a pakora wrap or tuna mayonnaise baguette is the choice on January 1, 2022.
The evening menu includes vegetable madras, chicken goulash, poached fish fillet, mince beef and onion pie and fish fingers.
They will all be served with potatoes or rice and vegetables, the menu states. Inmates at the jail in south east London include Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and Henry Long, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, the three killers of PC Andrew Harper.
Ali Harbi Ali, 25, who is accused of stabbing MP Sir David Amess to death, is on remand at the prison ahead of his trial next March.
Wakefield’s menu triggered accusations that pampered inmates were being treated better than many in the outside world when it was first revealed by YorkshireLive at the end of November.
One person wrote online: ‘They’re eating better than a lot of pensioners – it’s an absolute disgrace.’
However, supporters of prison reform, including the Howard League, have said that reduced regimes due to Covid precautions during the pandemic have placed huge strain on inmates’ wellbeing.
Annette Greenwood, who has run projects for the Probation Service, said: ‘The budget for food appears to have increased over the past decade, as it used to be £1.50 per person.
‘There’s a healthier approach now and an awareness that diet has links to physical and mental wellbeing, which have been impacted by the lockdowns and the reduced regimes. If these healthy options help rehabilitate prisoners it can only be a positive step.’
In its response to Metro.co.uk’s requests, the Prison Service said that Christmas parties or other forms of privileges are ‘unlikely’ this year.
The reply states: ‘Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the current concern in relation to the new variant, restricted regimes are being implemented in prisons in order to maintain social distancing and keep all those who live and work in our prisons safe.
‘These establishments are therefore unlikely to have the ability to facilitate additional festive entertainment or privileges this year.
‘Safeguarding the health of prisoners must continue to take precedence.’
The MoJ responded separately to claims that prisoners are enjoying a cushy festive season courtesy of the taxpayer.
A spokesperson said: ‘Meals in prisons over Christmas and new year are paid for from within the existing budget and at no extra cost to the taxpayer.
‘In line with the new increased financial responsibilities governors now have, and within the overall prison budget, what is spent on food for prisoners per day, including meals for religious occasions, is a decision made locally.’
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