Since being jailed for two years on corruption charges last Tuesday, former government press secretary Frank Dunlop has enjoyed a high standard and varied selection of food from Arbour Hill prison's award-winning kitchen.

The kitchen at the Dublin jail is regarded as the "jewel in the crown" of the prison service. Arbour Hill is home to 91% of incarcerated male sex offenders. One reason Dunlop was sent there was the lack of violence or drug abuse at the prison.

Dunlop is entitled to €2.35 daily standard gratuity, and if he chooses to work in the prison, he receives an extra €10 a week. He has not applied for any work within the prison yet. He is in a single cell and has settled in well, according to prison sources.

On his first night behind bars, the 62-year-old enjoyed a gammon steak with parsley sauce and creamed potatoes followed by stewed apple and custard. Tea that evening was fish goujons with tartar sauce and beans. Dinner on Wednesday was chicken curry and pilau rice, with a baked vegetarian burger and salad for tea. Inmates were served homemade beef burgers with pepper sauce, cauliflower and roast potatoes on Thursday and later on had homemade vegetable soup with a cheese roll.

In line with the Catholic custom of not eating meat on Fridays, inmates were served breaded fillet of fish, peas and boiled potatoes for their dinner. For tea, a mini-grill was on the menu. Saturday's dinner was perhaps the least appetising, with coddle followed by dinner and marinated chicken drumsticks and chips for tea. But things improve tonight for dinner: Dunlop will be served a pork loin chop with apple sauce, gravy, carrots, parsnip and roast potatoes, and a cheese salad and baked potato for tea. Different desserts are on the menu each day ranging from rice puddings to trifle. Breakfast each day is a choice of cereal and brown or white bread and tea.

Unlike Dunlop, most inmates at Arbour Hill are serving long sentences, and as a result it's a laid-back prison, with a wide range of educational opportunities. All inmates are on first-name terms with governor Liam Dowling.

Arbour Hill's most notorious prisoner is Larry Murphy (44), the carpenter who became the prime suspect in the disappearance of several women and was jailed for 14 years in May 2001 for the abduction, rape and attempted murder of a Co Carlow woman.

Dunlop was sentenced to two years in prison for corruption, with the final six months suspended. With remission, he will serve just over one year. He had pleaded guilty to five charges of corruption. He admitted handing over money to politicians at the time of crucial rezoning votes at council meetings relating to lands at Carrickmines in Dublin.