“So long as it was held that a prison is merely an institution for the safe detention of criminals, it was not to be expected that the hygienic conditions prevailing in such a place would be in harmony with the best experience or the newest schemes of sanitary science. Food in such an institution was intended solely to keep the prisoner alive and enable him to perform his allotted daily tasks. Penal institutions are beginning, however, to be the seats of active reform. With the acceptance of such a program as part of the function of our prisons, the problem of nutrition can no longer be neglected entirely. It may reasonably be contended that good housing conditions and suitable diet do not of themselves secure reformation of the misguided or the habitual criminal; but without some consideration of the necessity of proper food, the best ends of the imprisonment for crime cannot be attained. Malnutrition may or may not contribute to the production of criminals; in any event, the physiologic and psychic conditions attending the lack of palatable food and a well-balanced ration are not such as are conducive to those mental attitudes that lead to improved conduct and more wholesome life. It has been remarked that while a prisoner is not incarcerated for the purpose of being fed an ideal diet, nevertheless he should be fed so as to insure good health and a stable nervous system. * * * “It seems extraordinary that so little judgment is shown by prison officials in varying and improving the dietary. The same unappetizing stuff is served day after day and year after year, with no variety in food or manner of preparation. A large number of the prisoners have stomach troubles from this cause alone. Canned food is served when fresh vegetables would be just as cheap. The meat is cooked to death and is covered by a so-called sauce. The kitchen keepers are not to blame; it is the fault of the system. “_The remedy for this fault is to be found in the appointment of trained dietitians._ So long as hospitals and other establishments which incidentally cater to mankind have been slow to appreciate the need of expert services in the planning and preparation of meals as well as in the purchasing of rations, we can understand the inertia of the prison management in this respect. But the time has apparently come for the introduction of such efficiency and supervision as will lead not only to economy of service but also to physiologic well-being. If the dietary is as important as the coal supply or the construction accounts, it deserves a dietitian rather than a stoker or a skilled mechanic to be placed in charge of the food problems.” MICHIGAN STATE PRISON.