Prison Dining Giant Aramark Serves Inedible Food to Drive Commissary Sales, Lawsuit Alleges

A federal lawsuit filed by West Virginia prisoners alleges that Aramark Corporation serves inedible, low-quality food in its prison cafeterias to drive customers to its food-for-purchase programs.

Last year, people incarcerated at West Virginia’s Mt. Olive Correctional Complex, along with loved ones of Mt. Olive prisoners, filed a class action lawsuit against Aramark and its subsidiaries, including the prison commissary company, Union Supply Group. Earlier this month, West Virginia prisoners asked the court to reject Aramark Corporation’s request to dismiss their lawsuit.

Aramark is the largest food provider in the United States to prisons and jails. Aramark also has contracts with a number of other institutions, such as schools, hospitals, and stadiums. In fiscal year 2025, the Fortune 500 company brought in $18.5 billion dollars in revenue. 

“Aramark extracts a profit on both ends; it saves costs on its daily meals services business by providing less, reused, and poor-quality food, while earning more money from incarcerated consumers’ purchases from its food-for-purchase programs,” the complaint says.

In its response to the lawsuit, Aramark asked the court to toss the case. The court has not yet ruled on the company’s motion to dismiss. 

“At best, Plaintiffs’ allegations establish that they are dissatisfied with their food in prison,” Aramark wrote in its motion to dismiss. “That is a far cry from establishing the type of life-or-death deprivation of ‘basic needs’ upon which Plaintiffs’ theory depends.”

When asked for comment on the suit, a spokesperson for the West Virginia Department of Corrections said, “It is our standard practice to not provide comment on active or pending legal matters.” The plaintiffs did not sue the department. 

The complaint alleges that Aramark’s actions violate the state’s consumer protection law.

“Longstanding fundamental principles of marketplace fairness embedded in the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act and common law are based on consumer choice and seek to prevent the unfairness and exploitation that can occur when powerful companies have exclusive control over captive markets,” they wrote in their response to Aramark’s motion to dismiss. “These laws apply equally to incarcerated consumers.”

For years, incarcerated people, correctional officers, and state officials from across the country have accused Aramark of serving inedible or spoiled food, prepared in kitchens where workers have allegedly found maggots. In one highly-publicized incident in a Michigan prison, an Aramark employee allegedly told an incarcerated worker to serve cake that had been partially eaten by rodents. (Aramark has also been sued for not paying its incarcerated workers.) 

In Ohio, maggots were found in multiple Aramark-run prison kitchens. State officials levied $272,000 in fines against the company for contract violations, including unsanitary food preparation areas. In Kentucky, Aramark’s food allegedly led to a prison riot. 

​​”It’s over the food,” corrections officer Matt Hughes told state lawmakers after the riot in 2015. “The food was slop.”

The Mt. Olive plaintiffs allege that since Aramark took over food services in 2019, both the quality and quantity of food have declined. 

“When [plaintiff] Mr. [Marcus P.] McKinley first arrived at Mt. Olive, the daily food services included a wide variety of fresh meats, real dairy and eggs, and vegetables,” the suit says, which was filed by the National Consumer Law Center and others. “Now, most of the meat that Aramark serves is in the form of processed pellets, and the eggs are bagged eggs.”

McKinley spends approximately $50 to $60 per month on food, more than 70 percent of his monthly income. Another plaintiff, William R. Johnson, who was incarcerated at Mt. Olive from 2009 to 2025, spent “nearly his entire monthly paycheck of $68 on food from the commissary.” 

The Appeal’s investigation into prison commissaries revealed widespread price gouging and financial exploitation, which place high burdens on prisoners earning meager wages.  

“When he was first incarcerated, Mr. Johnson and the other people incarcerated at Mt. Olive were provided with fresh vegetables and a variety of unprocessed meats,” the suit says. 

After Aramark took over, he and others were served “turkey pellets or ultra-processed patties made from an indiscernible meat.”

Plaintiff Roger D. Smith says that when he worked in the kitchen, he saw workers pick bugs out of gravy that was later served to incarcerated people. He also witnessed “old, frozen food being stored and then served days later to the segregation, mental health, and medical units,” even though they “were not the meals that were on the daily meal menus.”

The plaintiffs say that low-quality food and small portions are part of Aramark’s scheme to “drive people incarcerated at Mt. Olive and their loved ones to purchase food that should be provided for free.” 

Aramark runs three food-for-purchase programs: the prison commissary, Fresh Favorites, and iCare. 

Incarcerated people can purchase meals directly from the Fresh Favorites program, which, the complaint says, offers items it has “limited the availability of in its daily meals service,” such as “fruit-flavored yogurts, fresh vegetable trays, fried chicken, BLT sandwiches, and baked potatoes.” 

The complaint notes that one plaintiff has seen advertisements for Fresh Favorites, “touting fresh vegetables,” while he waits in line for meals. Aramark’s website advertises the program with a photo of a prisoner eating a salad. 

“Boost morale with FreshFavorites®, a retail experience that gives inmates the chance to purchase special meals using their trust fund,” the company’s website states.

Aramark’s iCare program is marketed to incarcerated people’s friends and families in the community. The company says iCare “offers justice-involved individuals a powerful tool to stay connected with their loved ones.”

On the iCare website, an “atomic double cheeseburger,” onion rings, cookies, and a Crystal Light packet cost $16.99, plus an additional $2.49 “handling charge.” A chicken Caesar salad costs $5.99. 

Plaintiff Sandra Rush has spent approximately $400 on iCare products for her son “because she knows that he is not receiving adequate daily meals services,” according to the complaint. To afford iCare meals, Rush has had to limit her spending on essential items for herself, such as groceries and cleaning supplies. 

The complaint calls Aramark’s practices “acutely oppressive and unscrupulous.” The company is “using a commodity essential for survival as a tool to extort profits off a captive market.”

“Aramark has taken control of every channel people in prison have of receiving food,” they wrote in their most recent legal filing. “Plaintiffs cannot weigh alternative options for buying food—all they have is one option: Aramark.”