PORTLAND — A government watchdog group says soft drinks and hard time don’t mix at Oregon prisons.

Common Sense Oregon awarded the state prison system its inaugural “Oregon Golden Fleece Award” for spending $773,000 on soda pop for inmates. The money could be better spent, said Ross Day, the group’s executive director and an attorney active in the conservative Oregonians in Action.

“It’s real simple,” he told The Oregonian newspaper. “Do people want that money to go state troopers or teachers or whomever, or do they want a prisoner to sit down and have a Coke and a smile?”

Common Sense Oregon has started running radio ads promoting the “Oregon Golden Fleece Award”, Day said, and plans to issue the award once a month to politicians or public programs.

Oregon Corrections Department spokeswoman Liz Craig said the state has an exclusive contract with Coca-Cola to provide soda pop to the 14,000 inmates in the prison system.

At some institutions, she said, inmates can choose from six Coca-Cola products.

But corrections officials plan to reduce soft drink spending by more than half to meet budget cuts and for health reasons, Craig said, and are cutting back on inmates’ access to the beverage.

Inmates at the Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem, for example, can get a Coke with their meal only once a week now and only at dinner at the Coffee Creek Correctional Facility.

Also, inmates are given small cups, Craig said, so it’s difficult for them to fill up on the equivalent of a 12-ounce can during a meal.

Before, soda was available at facilities during lunch and dinner.

She said food is used as a “management tool” to improve inmate behavior, so corrections officials don’t want to make a decision to abruptly stop serving soda in prisons.