Vegan Meals for Accused Cannibal? PETA Reaches Out to Sheriff

Plant-Based Foods Can Help Control Violence, Evidence Shows

For Immediate Release:
June 13, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

When police arrested Gregory Hale, the reported Satan worshipper confessed to killing and dismembering 36-year-old Lisa Marie Hyder last week and eating parts of her body. That’s why PETA has written to Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves today, asking him to place Hale, who is now in Coffee County Jail, on an all-vegan diet.

PETA points out that the violent acts for which Hale has been accused are acts that are commonly inflicted upon billions of farmed animals in the U.S. each year—something highlighted by Hale’s reported habit of collecting eyes, bones, and other parts of animals from the slaughterhouse where he worked. Stressing the link between cruelty to animals and other violent crimes, PETA asserts that in addition to being healthy, cost-efficient, and easy to prepare, vegan meals promote non-violence. Several correctional facilities have seen vegetarian diets help improve inmate behavior when used as part of a violence-reduction program.

“Switching to vegan meals will keep the blood off this man’s plate,” says PETA Associate Director Lindsay Rajt. “PETA is offering to help Sheriff Graves save lives and public funds by switching prisoners, especially violent ones, to a humane and cost-effective vegan menu.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org. I can be reached at 202-540-2194 or [email protected] if you have any questions.

PETA’s letter to Coffee County Sheriff Steve Graves follows.

June 13, 2014

Steve Graves

Sheriff

Coffee County

Dear Sheriff Graves,

On behalf of PETA and our more than 3 million members and supporters, including thousands across Tennessee, I am writing to suggest, with all due respect, that you help alleged killer and cannibal Gregory Hale swear off flesh by providing him with exclusively vegan meals while he is in your custody.

Some prison operators—including those at Alabama’s highest-security prison,William E. Donaldson Correctional Facility—have found that switching inmates to vegetarian meals can be a successful part of a violence-reduction program. If Hale did, in fact, kill Lisa Marie Hyder and eat parts of her body, opting to feed him only vegan foods could diminish that bloodlust and might even help protect staff and neighboring inmates. In fact, a meat-free meal plan could benefit all your inmates if you’d like to explore it.

Every vegan meal served at your facility would save animals from coming to a gruesome end. In today’s industrialized meat and dairy factories, animals are subjected to horrific abuse not unlike what Hale is supposed to have inflicted on Hyder. It has in fact been reported that Hale once worked in a slaughterhouse, which means that he would have seen chickens, cows, and pigs as they had their throats slit, perhaps while they were still conscious, as often happens, and he may have even dismembered their bodies and cut them into pieces if that was his job there.

Vegan meals are healthy and easy to prepare, and they can be less expensive than meat-based dishes. Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Arizona, estimates that he will save $100,000 by eliminating meat from inmate meals and feeding them healthier and cheaper soy protein instead. PETA would be happy to help you design the perfect cruelty-free meal plan for the Coffee County jail.

Thank you for your consideration. I look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Lindsay Rajt

Associate Director of Campaigns

For more information, please visit PETA.org.