We're going to go ahead and get started.

I've just uh I've just been informed that our council chair is busy with another very important meeting, so she won't be able to join us, at least not right away.

But I really appreciate your being here.

We want to respect your time.

So we're going to get started with the meeting.

Um, this is the first meeting of the Healthy Food and Prince George's County Correctional Facilities Task Force.

And I wanted to start with welcome and introductions, and of course, uh, again, we're very thankful that you could be here.

This is a very important task force that will uh ensure that we have the best quality food and safe environment in the correctional facility.

And uh at this point, I will move to my left and we'll walk around the room and we'll uh introduce uh ourselves to each other and we'll begin the work of this task for us.

And then the next step will come back.

I'll walk through the uh resolution that will give us an understanding of what the requirements are, the expectations, and then there's also a little bit more information that I think that might be helpful to guide this work going forward.

But um we'll start with my left, sir.

Good morning, everyone.

Uh my name is Willie Hamilton.

I'm outreach coordinator for uh life after release.

Life after release.

Thank you.

Good morning, Denise Weir with Prince Caleggis Community College Associate Dean for Health, Wellness, and Hospitality.

Good morning.

My name is Ramon Gonzalez.

I'm one of the legislative attorneys for Prince George's County Council.

I'll be helping you guys out with any parliamentary procedure questions and potentially any legal questions that I can help with.

Good morning, all David Williams, Budget and Policy Analysis Division, Principal Annalyst for the Prince George's County Department of Corrections.

And good morning, everyone.

I'm Rodney Brockenbrough, Deputy Director for Operations for the Department of Corrections.

Good morning, everyone.

My name is Captain Monica Pena from the Department of Corrections.

I'm the executive assistant to the Bureau of Operations.

All right, very good.

Thank you, everyone.

And so we'll we'll get started with a walkthrough, as I mentioned, the legislation.

There are two pieces of legislation that are relevant.

There's uh CR89, which uh is from last year, but the legislation that formed this work group was CR6 in 2024.

The Healthy Food and Prince George's County Correctional Facilities Task Force is charged with making recommendations to the county council as the Board of Health regarding nutritional food safety and other standards suitable for correctional facility meal programs that support the health, well-being, and religious and cultural identities of detained and incarcerated individuals.

The program should align with the Center for Good Purchasing's good food purchasing program.

And I'll have more information about that later in the in the meeting.

And as I mentioned, CR 89, the other piece of legislation extends the uh the uh task force life.

Um we obviously have started uh a little bit later than we had initially intended.

So this will give us until November 30 of 2027 uh to complete the work.

Um there is now there will be uh steps in the in the meantime, but that will give us time also for a look back.

Um and then there's also uh concern that the inmates at the county adult detention center are not receiving adequate nutritional food safety and other standards suitable suitable for a correctional facility meal program.

And so that is the uh that is the genesis of the um of the work group.

Those are some of the concerns that were expressed in um in the legislation and to carry out this work.

Um we'll have a larger group, but we wanted to get started today with those of you that are here.

But in total, there will be 14 members, including a member of county appointed by the council chair, who I believe intends to serve on this work group, and representatives from the Department of Corrections.

Thank you for being here today.

And the County Council shall appoint two individuals who are currently incarcerated in correctional facilities.

And an individual with expertise in researching and implementing food policy incarceral settings.

And two members of organizations that work with pre- and post-release formally incarcerated populations in Prince George's County.

And a second member of organizations that will work with pre- and post-release populations.

And the tenth member will be a returning citizens' affairs division representative, a registered dietitian, a member affiliated with a nonprofit organization that focuses on urban farming in Prince George's County, and a member with a food justice and farming organization working in Prince George's County, and a member affiliated with the Prince George's Community College.

And that takes us to page three of the legislation, which at the top of the page you'll see it discusses some of the requirements for the legislation, excuse me, for the meals.

And the minimum standards are at least one plant-based main course option per meal, at least three servings of mentally minimally processed raw fruit per day, all of which are fresh and maybe seasoned during correctional facility preparation, and at least three servings of minimally processed dark green vegetables per week, at least one of which is served raw, and all of which are fresh and may be seasoned during correctional facility preparation, and at least three servings of minally minimally processed red and orange vegetables per week, at least one of which is served raw, and all of which are fresh and may be seasoned during correctional facility preparation.

As you can see, those are those are all you know things that we all probably should be doing more of on a regular basis, ensuring that we have those fresh vegetables.

I think is something that can be a detriment to our health.

And so these are all I think very um very um important standards that will be required going forward.

And at an at a later point, I'll also turn I'd like to turn the microphone over to the Department of Corrections so you can just we can you know get some feedback on what's in here and as compared to what is actually the reality.

I believe that uh there may have been some changes uh since the time that this legislation was drafted.

So at a later point, we'd like to hear from you about some of these things.

And uh, as I mentioned, um, no later than two years after this work group convenes, the task force shall submit a report to the county executive and county council identifying steps to accomplish and a funding source to support the following within two years.