As the sheriff overseeing the inmates of the Middlesex House of Correction, James DiPaola was concerned about the high recidivism rate at his jail, which hung around 50 percent. With the help of William Bourgeois, a graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, he brainstormed a solution: offer a cooking class to give inmates the skills and incentive to turn away from crime.
“Life, like your food, is only as good as what you put into it,” said DiPaola. “We want to try and transform the negative energy they have when they come in into positive energy.”
So far more than 120 inmates, many of whom were jailed on drug charges and are serving a maximum of 2 1/2 years, have enrolled in DiPaola’s program, which is offered in partnership with the Shawsheen Valley Vocational Technical High School in Billerica, Mass. Inmates in the culinary program can earn 12 college credits and a food safety training certificate, increasing their marketability for a work-release program in a restaurant after their release.
Bourgeois is dedicated to his inmate chefs, many of whom are school dropouts or have spotty academic records. “I tell them to call me for anything except bail money,” said Bourgeois.
The program appears to be a success since DiPaola estimates the recidivism rate for program graduates is 10 percent compared for a 50 percent average chance of returning to jail within three years for the rest of the inmate population. Tonic reported recently about another program at Rikers Island that trains female inmates between the ages of 16 and 21 in cooking skills and another prison program in Philadelphia, which teaches inmates how to landscape.
“I never cooked before,” said inmate Victor Cruz, 38. “Being part of the program gives you skills to work, skills I didn’t know I had.”
Photo by _e.t via Flickr.