What does “Go back on the loaf” mean?

Question

There is a video game titled “The Suffering”. This game stars a character named Torque, who has been sent to Abbott State Penitentiary on Carnate Island off the coast of Maryland. Torque has been put on death row for (seemingly) murdering his ex-wife and two sons. The truth behind their deaths is…complicated.
Shortly after Torque is put in a cell, the other inmates begin talking about him. Some of them believe Torque committed the crimes, while others don’t think so. It leads to an argument so loud and hostile that a correction officer has to break it up through a loudspeaker as follows.

Correction Officer: Quiet down in there! Some of you wanna go back on the loaf? [Beat] I didn’t think so.

I have racked my brains trying to figure out what “go back on the loaf” means. Is it referring to food? Is it referring to some sort of punishment? It could be prison slang for all I know.
If there is anyone here who can explain to me what the phrase means, I will be very happy.

Michael Harvey · Accepted Answer

When a prisoner in many US jails is punished by being "put on the loaf", he or she is, for a period, deprived of variety at meal times, and is served a type of meat loaf. The practice has been legally challenged by prisoners who allege that it is "cruel and unusual punishment", which is forbidden by the Eighth Amendment to the US Constitution.

On Christmas Day, the inmates at Santa Cruz County Jail will get a
welcome respite from their regularly scheduled, nutritious but mostly
unexciting high school cafeteria-style meals — glazed ham with sweet
potatoes and ice cream for dessert.
If an inmate has been behaving poorly, however, while all his
incarcerated compatriots dine on one of the few special meals of the
year, he will instead be forced to feast on “the loaf.”
Otherwise known as the disciplinary diet loaf, prison loaf and
management loaf, when all else fails in disciplining an inmate — be it
loss of visits, free time or other privileges — the deputies turn to
this bland log of meat and vegetables to get the disruptive inmate to
follow the rules.

News story

What does “Go back on the loaf” mean?

One Answer

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question