County inmates learn culinary skills from Mallozzi’s chef
A new program at the Schenectady County Correctional Facility teaches inmates culinary job skills in an effort to avoid recidivism.
Our hope is it provides some skills for the inmates when they leave the facility and helps them attain some employment and put them on a path that is a positive one, said County Sheriff Dominic Dagostino. `It is in the hopes that this on track to keep them away from this place.`
County officials organized the program in partnership with Mallozzi’s, local restaurant and catering operators, to offer an eight-week culinary course to train soon-departing inmates to be better prepared to enter the job market and start on a better path to avoid future crime convictions. The first two classes, separated by gender, held a graduation ceremony recently for the eight male and five female students, who are all low-level, non-violent inmates. Mallozzi’s Corporate Executive Chef Ryan Huneau taught the program, which met twice a week for two hours with each group. The course is scheduled to be offered twice a year, with one in the spring and one in the fall.
Dagostino said, so far, the program has been successful. A culinary program was selected because the job market is better in that field compared to others.
In coming up with the program, the focus was on gaining life skills for reentry and keeping costs down.
`Everything is volunteer and at no cost to the taxpayers for the program,` said Dagostino. `We are very, very conscious of budgetary constraints and in this kind of climate, we have been tasked out to do more with less, and we are actively pursuing any kind of creative ideas at a cost that is very minimal or none at all.`
Completing the program makes the inmates a minimum security risk when reentering the community, he said, and before the actual certificates of completion were handed out, three inmates had already left the facility. There is a waiting list to get into the program.
Dagostino thanked Mallozzi’s for making the program possible.
`The [company] volunteered their corporate chef for this program, and they have given up their time and resources to make this program successful,` said Dagostino. `Those are the types of partnerships between the sheriff’s office and the business community and the community itself as a whole we are looking to form in order to provide these programs.`
Janet Bowers of Mallozzi’s said the company thought the cooking program would be a good way to give back to the community. She said that instead of just providing a monetary donation, it was a chance get out in the community and make a difference one on one.
`We originally designed the program with a full syllabus so they understand the basics of cooking and prepping and made sure to cover sanitation with them,` said Bowers. `[Chef Ryan Huneau] could see that they were really starting to get engaged in the whole concept of the class.`
Moving forward, said Bowers, the company hopes to lend various chefs to the program, but Huneau said he looks forward to teaching again.
`When I went in there it was like walking into a jail, but by the end, everyone was having a good time and enjoyed being there. I definitely feel like I affected these people to some extent,` said Huneau. `It was nice to see someone get something out of it when there is probably a lot of unproductive ways to spend their time.`
When Huneau was first approached about the program, he said he didn’t know what to expect, but the inmates warmed up to him and dove into the work. Only one of the inmates participating had previous culinary experience, but Huneau said they all learned a lot, and he checked their notes after every class. If they did make a mistake, he said they were quick to learn from it.
`I just wanted to give something back. I thought this would be a more hands on of an approach of giving back,` said Huneau.“
