Michigan to end prison food deal with Aramark

LANSING — The state of Michigan, after resisting calls from unions and public officials for more than a year to pull the plug on a problem-plagued prison food contract with Aramark Correctional Services, announced Monday it will end the three-year deal 18 months early and switch to a new vendor.

The decision to part ways with Aramark, which both the state and the company said was by mutual agreement, was widely applauded. The Free Press, using Michigan's Freedom of Information Act, has documented a litany of problems since Philadelphia-based Aramark took over the contract in December of 2013, replacing 370 state employees. Issues have ranged from meal shortages, to maggots in the kitchen, to smuggling of drugs and other contraband by Aramark employees, to Aramark workers engaging in sex acts with prisoners.

But the new contract with Florida-based Trinity Services Group is more costly, and critics said the state would be better off bringing back state employees, who were better-paid but had far less turnover and discipline problems than the Aramark workers who made about $11 an hour.

Prison officials say 176 Aramark workers have been terminated and banned from prison property for a range of transgressions, including allegedly attempting to hire an inmate to have another inmate assaulted.

Most recent was a July 7 incident, confirmed to the Free Press Monday by Corrections Department spokesman Chris Gautz, in which an Aramark worker at Alger Correctional Facility in Munising admitted improperly communicating with four inmates, being paid to smuggle in tobacco, and engaging in sex acts in a prison cooler. The Aramark worker said she also was urged to smuggle in illegal drugs, but refused.

"The Aramark contract has been a nightmare from day one," said Senate Minority Leader Jim Ananich, D-Flint. "This completely irresponsible use of taxpayer dollars has put hundreds of state kitchen employees out of work, and ... jeopardized the health and safety of inmates and prison employees, alike."

A transition from Aramark to Trinity will begin July 29 and is expected to conclude Sept. 9 -- three months shy of what would have been Aramark's two-year anniversary. The new contract is expected to be approved Tuesday at a meeting of the State Administrative Board in Lansing. Officials said they would not release the contract until the board approves it.

The Aramark deal was pegged at $145 million over three years. The Trinity deal will cost $158 million. Prison officials said when cost-of-living increases that Aramark was expected to receive are factored out, the new contract will cost only $408,000 more per year, but they did not explain how they arrived at that number.

Brom Stibitz, chief deputy director of the Department of Technology, Management and Budget, said the Trinity contract "will ensure uninterrupted food delivery service in Michigan correctional facilities," while ensuring "Michigan taxpayers will continue to save millions of dollars per year, with assurance that the state will receive quality service in return."

Ed McNeil, special assistant to the president of Michigan AFSCME Council 25, which represented the state prison kitchen workers, said instead of contracting with Trinity, the state should bring state employees back into the kitchen.

"The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and then expecting a different result," said McNeil. "This is a different company, but we will get the same result – poor service for the money state taxpayers are spending."

In May, the Free Press reported that the state invited Trinity, which was the second-lowest bidder when Aramark won the contract, to assist in a cost "benchmarking" exercise after Aramark asked for changes state officials said would have affected cost -- billing based on how many inmates were housed in the prisons, rather than how many meals were served; and changing required menu items.

"Aramark came to us to discuss contract changes and we just weren't comfortable," said Caleb Buhs, a DTMB spokesman. Eventually, the two parties mutually agreed to part ways, he said.

Christopher Alberta, CEO of Trinity Services Group, said the company is "thrilled to partner with (the state) to provide our quality food service."

Aramark spokeswoman Karen Cutler said: "Regrettably, the partnership with the Michigan Department of Corrections has not worked out as both sides hoped."

"We take full responsibility for all aspects of our performance while operating in a highly charged political environment that included repeated false claims," Cutler said. "Ultimately, we were unable to resolve a number of shared issues and as a result we mutually agreed with MDOC to end the contract."

Gov. Rick Snyder said the state "will remain focused on moving forward," and "Michigan will continue to realize significant cost savings from this new contract."

Ananich said scrutiny of Trinity needs to be high from the beginning so problems don't happen "over and over," as they did with Aramark. Michigan didn't have such problems when state employees worked in the prison kitchens, Ananich said.

The state fined Aramark $98,000 in March 2014 for food shortages, unauthorized menu substitutions and over-familiarity between kitchen workers and inmates; and another $200,000 in August 2014 after problems persisted.

The state later confirmed it quietly waived the March fine soon after it was imposed, and Aramark never paid it.

"Today's announcement is great news for people who value accountability," said Lonnie Scott, executive director of the liberal group Progress Michigan, which has also used the state FOIA law to access records about Aramark.

Trinity Services Group currently operates prison food service in 44 states, serving more than 300,000 inmates daily.

​"Prison food service is integral to the safe and secure operations of Michigan's prison system," said MDOC Director Heidi Washington. "I look forward to working with our new partners at Trinity and am confident in their commitment to provide quality services."

Washington, who took over as director from Dan Heyns on July 1, had been a harsh critic of Aramark's service as warden of the Charles Egeler Reception & Gudiance Center in Jackson, where new prisoners are initially housed.

Nick Ciaramitaro, legislative director for AFSCME Council 25, which represented the state prison kitchen workers, said the union is "very happy that they are recognizing the Aramark bid was an error and getting out from under it."

However, "how do you do this without rebidding, and why aren't state employees being considered" to return to the prison kitchens, Ciaramitaro asked.

Legislation first approved in 2012 required open bidding of food service operations to reduce correctional costs. Since then, the state says it has saved more than 10 percent of its operational costs for food service each year and expects savings will be achieved under the new agreement.

When the state first sought bids, DTMB officials said none of the bids would save the state enough money to justify moving to a contractor from state employees. But officials analyzed the numbers again and identified errors after Republican lawmakers urged them to give the private bids another look.

Contact Paul Egan: 517-372-8660 or pegan@freepress.com. Follow him on Twitter@paulegan4.