HARRISBURG — Just because an inmate is behind bars in Pennsylvania’s state prisons doesn’t mean they are denied their hot dog and hamburger on Labor Day, pork and sauerkraut on New Year’s Day, or turkey on Thanksgiving.

They still get food associated with holidays, along with grilled cheese sandwiches, pizza, and macaroni and cheese like they most likely had before they become a resident of one of the state’s 26 prisons.“We look at these people as this is their home now and we have to feed them like they would be at home,” said Marcia Noles, chief of the food services division for Pennsylvania’s Department of Corrections.Even though some victims and others might begrudge giving inmates more than a bread and water diet, a lot of planning goes into feeding 51,000 inmates in Pennsylvania’s state prisons.After all, corrections officials believe a good meal, or at least a fulfilling one, goes a long way to quelling inmate unrest over food issues and can avoid lawsuits that other county and federal facilities have experienced.Earlier this year, Lancaster County inmates shouted protests from behind prison walls about the living conditions inside that facility, including complaints about food. In 2014, Schuylkill County prison inmates filed a federal civil rights suit, claiming they weren’t being given enough food and inmates were losing weight.So while the taste of food at state prisons might remind inmates of home, how it is prepared and served is nothing like their mother’s kitchen.What’s it like to eat in prison?It takes about an hour and a half to serve all 2,300 male inmates at the State Correctional Institution-Coal Township, a 22-year-old facility nestled between two tree-covered mountains in Northumberland County.Inmates are fed three times a day in the three inmate dining halls that are separate from one where staff generally eat.Upon entering the dining hall, an inmate’s ID card is scanned. It’s a way to identify who is eating and ensure an inmate doesn’t double back and try to grab a second meal, prison’s food service manager John Snyder explained.Close attention is paid to making sure inmates with special dietary needs are fed the appropriate food and that every tray has the assigned quantity of food in the assigned spot to avoid any spats. Once the inmate has his or her food and drink, a corrections officer leads them to a table to eat.On most days, they are given about 20 minutes to finish their meal although Snyder said they get a little longer on holidays.When done, inmates carry their tray to the tray drop-off area where it is inspected by a corrections officer who checks to be sure the tray, cup and reusable plastic utensils are all returned.Then, they head back to their housing unit.The prisons’ food service operation follows the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics’ diabetic diet and offer about 2,500 calories a day over the three meals. The menu runs through a four-week cycle and is changed every six months.At every meal, a vegetarian-style entrée is offered.Along with keeping an eye out for food product shortages, Noles said she and the prison’s food service managers focus on ensuring a day’s meals are nutritionally balanced, are the best quality that corrections’ budgets can buy, and keep inmates in healthy condition.Despite all that, prison food tends to get a bad rap thanks to misperceptions created by television and movies that portray it as of poor quality and used as punishment.In addition to what is served at the dining hall, inmates also have the option of buying food items from the commissary. Who’s in the kitchenAbout 8,000 inmates work in food service across all the state prisons, said corrections spokeswoman Susan McNaughton.They work four to seven hour shifts and are paid between 19 and 42 cents an hour.Working in a prison’s food service operation is popular with inmates. A reason it’s so popular, Snyder said, is because it gives inmates access to a little more food than they would receive on the serving line.But not just anyone is hired to work there. Health concerns and behavior issues can make some inmates unsuitable to work around food. Those who are hired are inspected for cleanliness and health at the start of every shift and go through a metal detector at the end of it.Cameras throughout the kitchen area allow staff to monitor inmates’ movements from an office area behind darkened glass.Places to hide items are kept to a minimum. A computer program identifies where the inmate workers should be every 15 minutes.Food that is fed to inmates is also served to prison staff, who have a separate dining area from inmates although at times, Mooney, the superintendent at SCI-Coal Township, said he makes a point of eating in the inmate dining area to demonstrate that fact.Complaints and costsJust like at home, not every meal draws rave reviews.Snyder recalled receiving a complaint recently from an inmate who claimed, “You are denying me my chocolate milk every day, which state law guarantees me. “Another complained about being served yellow bananas. Another asked, “why can’t we have sugared cereal?”Sometimes, inmates’ dislike of a certain food doesn’t need to rise to the level of a complaint. If a particular food item is frequently seen left untouched, it gets taken off the menu.The Pennsylvania Prison Society, an inmate advocacy group, says most of the complaints they hear from inmates are about the food quality and quantity they get in the prison dining halls.Some victims wouldn’t care if that is the only food their offender got to eat, but not all of them.The grocery bill for Pennsylvania’s prisons added up to $61.8 million to feed the 51,000 inmates and staff last year.Noles emphasized that the prisons are not serving steak and rarely serve whole-muscle meats.She said they keep a close eye on costs to be sure they are staying within a food budget.Based on the nearly 58.7 million meals served to inmates and staff in 2013-14, the cost averaged out to $1.12 per meal.