The problem with feeding prisoners vegan food to make their lives worse is similar to the problem with forcing them all to convert to Islam to make their lives worse—there’s a group of people in the real world who would really like to convert others to Islam, and forcing prisoners to convert is a huge benefit to this group. The problem isn’t just that the prisoners’ lives are made worse; it’s that it does so in a way which people are motivated to do for other reasons unrelated to prisoners or crime, creating both a moral hazard, and a dubious handout to outsiders who should not just be receiving handouts.
This was went completely the opposite direction to the one I expected. I thought you were heading towards “if all prisoners must be vegan then veganism will become associated with criminals in the cultural zeitgeist and become unfashionable.”
The problem with feeding prisoners vegan food to make their lives worse is similar to the problem with forcing them all to convert to Islam to make their lives worse—there’s a group of people in the real world who would really like to convert others to Islam, and forcing prisoners to convert is a huge benefit to this group. The problem isn’t just that the prisoners’ lives are made worse; it’s that it does so in a way which people are motivated to do for other reasons unrelated to prisoners or crime, creating both a moral hazard, and a dubious handout to outsiders who should not just be receiving handouts.
This was went completely the opposite direction to the one I expected. I thought you were heading towards “if all prisoners must be vegan then veganism will become associated with criminals in the cultural zeitgeist and become unfashionable.”