Projo Offbeat Blog

Despite the common perception, most diets do work.

But only temporarily.

We might spend a few days or even weeks eschewing carbs or eating nothing but celery sticks, but before long, we're breaking away from those harsh restrictions and breaking into the freezer for late-night bowls of ice cream.

But that's no problem if you're on the the Benton County Jail Diet in Arkansas.

Look what that diet has done for Broderick Lloyd Laswell. He's down to a lean 308 pounds eight months after entering jail at 413 pounds. That's right, 105 pounds in eight months. Beat that, Jenny Craig.

But for some reason, Laswell, 19, is not happy with his new, svelte appearance. He's filed a lawsuit, claiming that he's being starved to death.

"About an hour after each meal my stomach starts to hurt and growl. I feel hungry again," he says in his lawsuit.

Laswell also complains about "the size of biscuits and cakes, as well as the sides," a story in The Morning News of northwest Arkansas reports.

These things are important to Laswell. After all, he's charged with murder, and he could spend years on the prison diet plan.

Comments

Nicole said:

Huh, 'starving him to death'? That'll be easy to disprove. His lawyer faces an uphill battle; he should suggest that his client sue his fast metabolism instead.

Joking aside, this does raise an interesting issure of whether food portions for inmates should be judged on an individual basis and how much the individual needs to feel "full". Is it torture to leave them hungry? Would people care?

I wonder if portion control is practiced in some jails already. Thanks for the post.

Link | April 29, 2008 3:05 PM
Report Abuse

---

Leave a comment

Name:

Email:

URL:  

Remember personal info?

Captcha:

Type the characters you see in the picture above.