The new food vendor at the Cuyahoga County Jail has been accused of unsanitary conditions, rodent infestations and serving inadequate meals at jails from Pittsburgh to New Mexico.
Summit Food Service LLC was unanimously approved for a three-year, $18 million contract on Nov. 19 by the Cuyahoga County Public Safety & Justice Affairs Committee. For years, people incarcerated at the Cuyahoga County Jail complained about the food provided by now-former vendor Trinity Services Group.
Cuyahoga County Sheriff’s Department Special Assistant Jim Carbone told council committee members that Summit’s food “tasted pretty good.” The South Dakota-based company has food service contracts across the nation, including the Cook County Jail in Chicago, which houses at least 5,500 incarcerated people.
Several jails have faced lawsuits and investigations after hiring Summit.
In Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, incarcerated people reported poor food and working conditions after Summit came on, according to audits, media reports and jail surveys. In February 2023, Summit told a local news outlet that the company followed safety standards and all meal requirements in its contract with the jail. The county, which covers Pittsburgh, had been contracting with Trinity Services Group, but after months of government and media criticism for high prices, complaints about quality and pest infestations, it chose Summit. Last year, Allegheny County switched back to Trinity.
In January 2024, a Fulton County Sheriff’s investigation at the jail in Georgia uncovered an alleged contraband smuggling network involving Summit Food employees. A warehouse supervisor, an assistant director and two food service workers were arrested and accused of smuggling tobacco into the facility. Summit, the company, was not charged.
Incarcerated women at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility sued the New Mexico Department of Corrections and Summit in a 2021 federal lawsuit arguing that it failed to address a severe rodent infestation in the kitchen and dining areas that contaminated the food. Rodents fell into pots of stew and oatmeal, according to the suit. In court documents, Summit acknowledged rodents were in the facility but denied there was an “infestation” or any danger.
In 2019, the Boone County Grand Jury in Minnesota investigated the Boone County Jail and found that Summit’s meals were low in calories and nutritionally lacking. Summit disputed the findings, saying that it always provided nutritious meals. After the grand jury report, Boone County ended its contract with Summit in 2019 and switched to Trinity, which has remained the jail’s food service provider.
