On Tuesday, March 28, the Decatur County Board of Commission voted to improve the meal quality of prisoners in the Decatur County Prison.

Beginning in July, the inmates in the jail will receive sausage in their breakfasts on Saturdays and Sundays. The addition of sausage on the weekends is an improvement that will boost nutrition greatly for only a minor cost change.

“It’s better for their health, it fills them up,” said Warden Gordon Screen. “We do a lot of work, so we felt it was best that we do meat on the weekend.”

Weekend breakfast meals in 2016 cost the county $1.32 a meal for a prison with less than 200 inmates. Currently, the Decatur County Prison houses 169 inmates.

For a prison with under 200 inmates like Decatur County, the addition of sausage on the weekend bumps up the price per meal to $1.335. The difference in value is only a penny and a half, while the nutritional boost will be great.

“It starts in July,” said Screen, “that’s our fiscal year, so this won’t effect the 2016 budget.”

Warden Screen emphasized that since the price increase is so small, the addition of sausage will not cause any strain on the prison’s budget.

The inmates are offered a variety as far as breakfast goes on the weekdays and now their weekend meals can be just as good.

Their breakfasts can include grits, eggs, a biscuit, sausage and sometimes even pancakes, according to Screen. Sausage is the only meat the prison offers for breakfast per Warden Screen.