We post news and comment on federal criminal justice issues, focused primarily on trial and post-conviction matters, legislative initiatives, and sentencing issues.

WEDNESDAY IN THE CHOW HALL WILL NEVER BE THE SAME

For those of you unfortunate enough not to have experienced it firsthand, we offer an explanation: Wednesdays are always hamburger days in the Bureau of Prisons chow halls nationwide. While it’s true that the Burger King would be dethroned for selling a burger like the one that’s standard fare in the BOP, still, the Wednesday midday meal is a brighter spot than the meals for the other six days of the week.

Until now.

Two meatpacking plant executives pled guilty last Tuesday to their role in a scheme to sell 800,000 lbs. of bad meat to the BOP, according to the US Attorney for the Northern District of Texas.

According to the plea agreement, the two men admitted to selling uninspected, misbranded, or adulterated meat – including whole cow hearts labeled as “ground beef” – to 32 prisons in 18 states.

West Texas Provisions, Inc. president Jeffery N. Smith and operations manager Derrick Martinez pled guilty to conspiracy to defraud the United States. The BOP paid about $1 million for the bad meat between October 2016 and August 2017.

West Texas Provisions marketed uninspected meat as “USDA inspected.” The company processed whole cow hearts (not permitted in ground beef products) at nights, when inspectors were not present, and labeled it “ground beef.” The defendants often kept the lights off while processing uninspected meat, hid uninspected meat in the freezer while inspectors were in the building, and distracted inspectors from looking at questionable product.

Bon appetit.

US Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, Meat Packing Plant Execs Plead Guilty to Selling $1 Million in Adulterated Ground Beef to Federal Bureau of Prisons (Sept. 25)

The Crime Report, Meat Executives Plead Guilty to Selling Bad Beef to 32 Prisons (Sept. 26)

– Thomas L. Root