LIVINGSTON — Feeding inmates at the Park County Detention Center is a daily task that adds quickly, and now the sheriff’s office is looking for help.
From meatball calzones to broccoli cheese soup, meals are prepared three times a day, every day of the year. For a small facility that holds up to 24 inmates, officials say that responsibility falls on a limited staff already juggling multiple roles.
“In the course of their day, they cook and provide meals for all of the inmates,” said Tad Dykstra with the Park County Sheriff’s Office.
WATCH: The Park County Detention Center is looking for a vendor to prep inmate meals so its nine officers can focus on security
With just nine employees, detention officers are responsible not only for maintaining safety inside the jail, but also for preparing and serving food.
The sheriff’s office is now seeking a third-party vendor to take over meal services. In a recent social media post, officials asked for interested providers to step forward.
“Our goal is to alleviate some of the workload on those very few detention officers, in order to allow them to do other aspects of their duties without having to prepare the food,” Dykstra said.
While some counties source meals from the Montana State Prison in Deer Lodge, that option is not feasible for Park County due to distance and transportation challenges.
“We couldn’t really work out the details of the transportation and getting the meals actually here,” Dykstra said.
Using inmate labor in the kitchen is also not an option because of the facility’s size, he added.
Inside the detention center, the kitchen space is small, and nearly everything— from food supplies to equipment — is brought in. The county currently orders food through Sysco and even rents equipment to keep operations running.
“Right now we budget $60,000 a year specifically for food,” Dykstra said.
So far, the sheriff’s office says it has received strong interest from potential vendors, but no decision has been made.
At the core of the effort, Dykstra said, is ensuring inmates are treated humanely.
“Sustain them and then treat them with the dignity and respect that they absolutely deserve,” he said.
