Inmates Petition for Mexican Food, but Motion Is Tabled

Chili peppers are becoming a hot issue at the Orange County Jail, where some Latino inmates are demanding more Mexican-style food and the sheriff is balking on security grounds.

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

Just as state prisons and county jails throughout California provide kosher and vegetarian meals for prisoners whose religion demands it, the Latino inmates said in a recent petition, the Orange County Jail should supply them with more of the food associated with 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 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 the state prisons serve salsa and peppers with some meals. He said he has never heard that the spices were considered a security problem and 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 many county jails serve salsa and chili peppers and that the state guidelines even recommend such spices to improve the taste of the food.

Appeal Planned

Pederson said many county jails prepare special meals for inmates with certain religious beliefs. But Olson said the 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 the inmates plan to appeal the county’s rejection of their request by seeking help from the American Civil Liberties Union or attempting to get a court order themselves.