The chefs and cooks were not prisoners, but employees of GEO. They were ordinary people with good personalities. Since Li Du was there to teach them how to make soup, they were friendly to Li Du and the others.
GEO was a well-known private prison company in the United States. It took on a lot of prison business, and some prisons were even managed by them.
Private prisons were a feature of the United States. Because prison expenses were a huge economic burden for the government, the government gradually outsourced prisons.
The United States spent a lot of money every year to manage prisoners. According to the Bureau of Prisons, in 2010, the United States spent 48.5 billion dollars on the prison system.
48.5 billion dollars was a lot, but there were more prisoners in the United States, and the number was increasing rapidly. The money was not enough.
As far as Li Du knew, the total number of prisoners in the United States was more than 2.2 million, and one in 110 adults was in prison.
The reason why he knew this number was because he had once read a very interesting report about the chaos in American prisons.
The cost of keeping prisoners in California was high. It cost $50,000 per prisoner every year. So in order to save money, California either exported prisoners to other states, or released prisoners early due to overcrowding. There were even cases where prisoners on death row had to wait in line for their execution …
As he recalled these things, the process of waking up the noodles was over. The chefs were familiar with the next step: pressing the dough, using the noodle machine to make noodles, steaming the noodles, and finally frying them in a pan of oil.
When frying noodles, they had to use a low temperature, so the stove needed to be turned on and off repeatedly. Li Du made the chefs think that the temperature of the oil had to be strictly controlled.
After sifting out the oil and drying in the sun, a simple version of instant noodles was produced.
The chefs tasted it and gave Li Du a thumbs up. "Oriental cooking, amazing!"
Li Du showed off. "It can be made into a variety of flavors. Want to eat spicy? Add spicy sauce when you knead the noodles. Want to eat tomato? Add ketchup, or add sugar if you want something sweet. "
The chefs nodded. The chef with blue eyes and a big nose patted him on the shoulder and said, "I'll put in a good word for you in front of Warden Priest. You've solved a big problem in the prison."
Li Du laughed. "What kind of problem is that?"
The chef shook his head. "You don't understand, young man. You'll find out later. Your food in prison is very bad."
That was why the prisoners loved working in the kitchen.
The Miami Penitentiary was forced to lower the standard of food for the inmates because the funds allocated were so small.
In the past, the prison provided three hot meals a day, but now it became two hot meals and one cold meal a day on weekdays. On weekends, prisoners could only eat two meals a day.
This was not a case of the Miami Penitentiary skimping on the prisoners' meals. It was done all over the United States under the euphemism of "punitive thrift." The purpose was not to save money, but to punish criminals for their crimes in society.
Therefore, for many prisoners who had to do a lot of labor and physical training every day, it was impossible for them to get enough energy from the amount and quality of food.
Therefore, the prisoners liked to work in the kitchen. Although it was a little tiring, they could take the opportunity to eat something they wanted to eat. Some prisoners with big stomachs would even save up a few meals in order to eat their fill.
Li Du was stunned by what the cooks told him. The United States always promoted the human rights of their country. In the propaganda, they introduced prisoners and said that prisoners could exercise freely, study and study in prison.
Obviously, reality was not so good.
He told the cooks about the propaganda, and the cooks laughed. "You think too much, young man. If you want to enjoy human rights, you can't commit crimes. If you do, you'll be doomed."
A cook showed him frozen meat from the freezer, which was stored in cardboard boxes. The cook pointed to the top of the box. Li Du looked at it and saw the words "not suitable for human consumption."
Li Du and the other three stayed in the kitchen that day. The cooks and the prison guards gave them special meals, and Li Du and the other three followed suit. However, the next day, they were rejected by the kitchen.
The reason given by the cooks was that they had learned how to make soup, but Li Du knew that was not the reason. It was because Godzilla could eat too much.
Yesterday, when they ate in the special kitchen, Godzilla made all the sausages in the cooks' stock. Those were the sausages for them to eat!
However, Li Du's guidance to the cooks in making soup was approved by the prison guards.
When the soup was served at noon that day, the prisoners were overjoyed.
They did not like to eat slippery noodles. Fried instant noodles tasted good, were high in calories, and had a stronger feeling of fullness after drinking water. These were advantages that other foods did not have.
It was for these reasons that instant noodles were so popular in prison that they replaced cigarettes as the new currency.
There were also transactions in prison. Instant noodles, which were considered junk food in China, became the currency of trade in Miami Prison.
On his first day in prison, Li Du saw the power of instant noodles. Prisoners used instant noodles in exchange for food, clothing, hygiene products, and even laundry or bed cleaning services.
In addition, when playing card games or participating in football quiz, prisoners would also use instant noodles as a bargaining chip.
Unfortunately, Li Du's ambition was not there. Otherwise, he felt that he could set up an instant noodle company outside and make a lot of money by supplying low-priced instant noodles to the prison.
Li Du approved of the prison guards. The next day, they gave Li Du a list of jobs so that he could choose his own work environment.
In prison, there was nothing more than cleaning, kitchen help, garbage dump cleaning, toilet cleaning, warehouse cleaning, disinfecting, filing, and so on.
The kitchen work was removed. Li Du's eyes lit up when he saw the job of cleaning the warehouse. This was his old job, so he took Hans and the other two to choose this job.
The prison guard saw that they were interested and said, "The most important thing is to clean your hands and feet when you enter the warehouse. Don't even think about stealing. Believe me, you won't be sentenced for stealing here, but the consequences will be worse than being sentenced!"
Li Du nodded to show that he understood. He was now waiting to get out.
He believed that as long as the white prison guard called, the people who answered the phone would find a way to get him out.
However, there was no news in this regard. He did not meet the white prison guard today, so he had to find a way to live in prison. The most important thing now was to clean the warehouse.
The warehouse of the Miami Penitentiary was behind four apartment buildings. It was a large area of low-rise buildings, like large factory buildings.
After opening the warehouse door, Li Du was a little surprised. There were so many things inside!
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