June 17, 2007
Victoria's worst prisoners are better fed than some of our most vulnerable pensioners.A Sunday Herald Sun investigation has found serial killers, gangsters, rapists and accused terrorists are sitting down to healthier, more expensive fare than our frail elderly.
Notorious inmates Julian Knight, Carl Williams and John Sharpe enjoy a taxpayer-funded menu of roasts with potatoes, pasta bolognese or napolitana, homemade pies with chips, and vegetables, fruit and salads.
But at some aged care homes, dinner consists of chicken nuggets blended into a drink, or a measly two party pies with a watery fruit cup chaser.
About $5.70 is spent on a prisoner's meals each day, according to Corrections Victoria. Some aged care homes spend less – as little as $5 – to feed an elderly patient for a day.
And, experts say, pensioners on the breadline who live at home have to budget for as little as $2 a meal.
The shock revelations came as a new company running aged homes in Victoria said it intended to serve residents reconstituted frozen food.
Aged-care advocate Lynda Salterelli said it was a sick joke that the elderly were treated as second-class citizens to serious criminals. She said reports to her site agedcarecrisis.com showed dietary neglect of the elderly across the system. "In the state's 900 aged-care facilities, malnutrition and dehydration are not uncommon," she said. Malnutrition among the elderly is linked to higher death rates, reduced immunity, increased risk of falls, ulcers, infection and longer stays in hospital.
Nine Victorian aged-care homes, servicing 384 residents, failed Department of Health nutrition guidelines last year. But things are much rosier in the kitchens at Barwon, Port Phillip and Melbourne Assessment prisons – home to the state's most vicious criminals A typical menu there would, by comparison, leave many pensioners drooling. For dinner, inmates such as triple killer Gregory Brazel are served either roast chicken, beef, pork or sausages with rice, vegetables or potatoes.
The menu choices include golden-battered fish fillets with fresh vegetables. Lunches include pasta bolognese, a roll of salad, egg and pressed meats with garden salad and fruit, seafood salads, or home-cooked pies with chips.
The "specific cultural needs of prisoners" – Muslim, orthodox Jewish or vegetarians – are also catered for. A Queensland company has been given management rights over 15 Victorian retirement homes. The company confirmed yesterday it planned to bring in pre-cooked frozen food from Queensland for its residents.
"elder abuse"
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