The Christmas Day menu at maximum security HMP Wakefield is decorated with Santa Claus faces (Picture: Getty/Ministry of Justice)

Prisoners at some of Britain’s top security jails will sit down to vegan steaks and nut roasts with all the trimmings this Christmas.

The animal-free choices across the Category A prisons in England include fresh Greek salads, pies, pizzas, sausage rolls, bakes and goujons.

Inmates at HMP Belmarsh have a Quorn roast and baked fish with prawns and chilli butter among the choices for their festive lunch.  

Traditional options include a pork and black pudding pie salad at Full Sutton and roast turkey with stuffing, roast and boiled potatoes, seasonal vegetables and a sausage wrapped in bacon with gravy at Manchester.

The festive offer at Belmarsh, in south-east London, includes multiple choice options for each of Christmas Eve, December 25 and Boxing Day.  

Today, the menu includes chicken breast, roast turkey and a dish of pigs in blankets, stuffing, roast potatoes, carrots, parsnips, Brussels sprouts and gravy. Pukka sausage rolls, instant noodles and gingerbread reindeer and Christmas flapjack are among the evening choices. 

Christmas Eve options included vegan pie, roast pork, southern fried fish or chicken balti. On Boxing Day, the menu includes cauliflower and chick pea pasties, smoked haddock fishcakes and sliced beef or ham, all served with pickles and salad.

Current and past inmates at the jail in Thamesmead include Soham killer Ian Huntley, Wikileaks founder Julian Assange, the great train robber Ronnie Biggs and Henry Long, Jessie Cole and Albert Bowers, the three killers of PC Andrew Harper.   

Prisoners at HMP Belmarsh have a range of menu items to choose from over the festive season (Picture: Susannah Ireland/REX/Shutterstock)

At HMP Full Sutton, the Christmas Eve menu included chilled halal options of a jumbo beef sausage roll or a corned beef pasty, offered with a choice of either a fruit pack, a strawberry oat bar and yoghurt or a Mother’s Pride wholemeal loaf.  

A vegan nut roast and a soya cottage pie were among the healthy dishes for tea at the prison in the East Riding of Yorkshire.

On Christmas Day, five options include ‘homemade’ vegan Wellington, halal chicken legs and roast turkey with three pigs in blankets.

Each item comes with trimmings including Yorkshire puddings, new and roast potatoes, Brussels sprouts, carrots, stuffing balls and gravy.  

Afters include a large fruit cocktail in jelly and a vegan or traditional Christmas pudding with vanilla sauce.

Serial killer Dennis Nilsen, double murderer Michael Stone and gangster Dale Cregan have been some of the infamous criminals held at the jail over the years.

The Christmas Day menu at HMP Wakefield showing the fare inmates can choose from (Picture: Ministry of Justice)

At HMP Manchester, inmates can select from a neatly laid out grid menu featuring dietary symbols.  

Christmas Eve lunch options included roast beef and Yorkshire pudding with all the trimmings and a ‘homemade’ lentil loaf with roast potatoes, vegetables and gravy.  

The five evening meal choices included peanut butter on brown bread or chicken with sweetcorn and pasta salad, with both items coming with a packet of crisps, a biscuit and fresh fruit. 

The healthiest choice under the symbols was a fresh vegan Greek salad, which came with cheese and olives and the same sides as the other options.  

Today, inmates can choose from roast turkey, a tandoori chicken leg marinated in spices and served with Bombay potatoes, boiled rice and chapatti bread or a vegetarian Wellington with the vegetables wrapped in puff pastry and served with all the trimmings.

Dessert at the jail, which was formerly known as Strangeways, includes Christmas pudding and white sauce. A beetroot carrot chickpea wrap and a vegetable sausage roll are among the teatime offerings.

All of the three evening meal choices come with a scone, jam, butter, cheese, crackers, orange Christmas cookie, chocolate yoghurt, banana and mince pie. On Boxing Day, the menu lists beef stew with potatoes and vegetables and lentil dhal curry with spinach cooked in Indian spices with boiled rice and chapatti bread.  

The jail’s list of notorious inmates over the years has included prolific serial killer Harold Shipman, who was held there before his trial, and Moors murderer Ian Brady.   

A general view of Wakefield prison in west Yorkshire where a festive menu is being provided for inmates (Picture: Gareth Copley/PA Wire)

At Wakefield, pictures of a jolly Father Christmas adorn the Christmas Day menu offered to some of the most high-risk inmates in the country.

Lunch consists of cauliflower chickpea and onion bhaji pasty, halal turkey, brie and sweet potato pie or roast turkey, a stuffing ball and a sausage wrapped in bacon.  

Prisoners are offered all the trimmings and can round off with vegan Christmas pudding and white sauce or a banana.

Tea choices include a vegan sausage roll or a mini pork, apple and black pudding pie with a cheese pie.

Each item comes with a ‘grab pack’ consisting of a fruit cake slice, apple juice, gingerbread reindeer, mince pie, bag of crisps, satsuma and coffee.  

Far removed from the jail’s ‘Monster Mansion’ soubriquet, the menu ends with a picture of a merry snowman and the message: ‘Merry Christmas to one and all from the Kitchen Staff.’ 

Shipman, who died in January 2004, Jeremy Bamber, who killed five members of his own family, and black cab rapist John Worboys are among the past and present inmates at the men’s jail in west Yorkshire.

A menu at HMP Belmarsh lists the Christmas week 2022 choices including jerk chicken and vegetable cous cous (Picture: MoJ)

While Christmas fare comes with all the trimmings at the jails, the indicators this year are that the prison estate has been under strain.

In July, the Howard League for Penal Reform told Metro.co.uk that the system was ‘under-resourced and under-staffed’ and ‘increasingly unable to provide even basic levels of safety for staff and people in prison’. 

Releasing the menus after a Freedom of Information Act request, the Ministry of Justice said: ‘Prison rules require that prisoners are provided with three meals a day that are varied and nutritious and meet the religious, cultural, and medical needs of all.  

‘His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) is working closely with catering managers and suppliers to ensure best value for money at a time of rising food prices.’ 

The Prison Service maintains that all prisoners are provided with three healthy meals a day which meet nutritional guidelines set out by the Food Standards Agency and the Department of Health and Social Care.

A spokesperson said: ‘Meals in prisons over Christmas and new year are paid for using existing budgets and at no extra cost to the taxpayer.’ 

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Vegan nut roasts and soya cottage pies are among the festive dinner choices at England’s Category A jails.