That’s not exactly true. Jail, in the US, is for people who haven’t been convicted. And also, in the US, you’re innocent until proven guilty. So… maybe you mean prison?

I’ve not spent time in jails or prisons as a customer, but I have been to quite a few as a contractor for security consulting and specialized security equipment and I think your opinion about serving vegan food is quite wrong.

For starters it’s mandated in every jail/prison system I had experience with that kosher, halal, etc religion restrictions be respected. Additionally, diets for health reasons like diabetes are respected also. It’s not that much of a stretch for these institutions to do vegan meals that just accidentally happen to be kosher/halal/health compatible!

From what I saw most jails (not prisons) had two meal options… your choice of either a bologna sandwich or a PB&J sandwich. The bread on either sandwich was the cheapest low-bidder white bread that could be found and was always made with lard and milk powder since those are cheap ingredients. The bologna sandwich had one slice of dead animal and one measured tsp. of yellow mustard. The PB&J had one measured tbsp of govt. surplus peanut butter and one measured tbsp of USDA grape jelly. Jail inmate rations consisted of three of these sandwiches per day (breakfast, lunch, dinner). There’s no cafeteria in jail BTW, the jailers delivered the “meal” to the cells for security purposes (no need to supervise inmates between cell and cafeteria).

The private prisons I worked at were quite similar to jails in that meals were served in cells but they made darn sure that prisoners were happy with the food! It’s MUCH cheaper in the long run to have prisoners that are happy with their meals. One single prison riot over carp food costs a lot more than catering to everones food preferences! Federal prisons do good food for the same reason but they usually DO have cafeteria type operations (with the exception of their cushy minimum security facilities where the inmates can cook their own meals in their own kitchens!).

All most any JAIL has to do to offer vegan fare is spend a few more cents to buy vegan friendly bread, peanut butter and jelly. Is that really so much to ask?