Prison Food: Not a Good Thing

Martha Stewart posted a Christmas message on her personal web site yesterday, calling for sentencing reform and mentioning the “bad food” in prison.

Stewart, about halfway through her five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale, urged readers to think about women in prison who are “devoid of care, devoid of love, devoid of family.”

In her message, Stewart suggested that Americans should push for changes in federal sentencing guidelines for nonviolent first-time offenders, and particularly for drug offenders, who she said would be better served by rehabilitation than prison.

Stewart also reported that her job at the federal prison camp in Alderson, W.Va., has been cleaning, which includes sweeping, vacuuming and raking leaves. “I have had time to think, time to write, time to exercise, time to not eat the bad food and time to walk and contemplate the future,” she said.

Stewart is scheduled to be released in early March, then must spend five months confined to her home in Bedford, N.Y. Earlier this month, her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (New York), announced that she would be the host of a daytime talk show with a live studio audience, beginning in the fall. The television show is scheduled to begin after the five months of confinement are over.