The big kitchen at the Norfolk County Correctional Center usually cranks out no-frills meals for the 350 or so men who are jailed there. But on a recent evening, it transformed into a bakery.
Five of the men incarcerated at the facility worked together to make cookies and cakes — most of them for the first time ever. They teamed up to measure and blend sugar, flour, vanilla and other ingredients.
Culinary trainer Rebecca Queeney of The Snapchef Foundation helps Marino Pimentel mix ingredients for a dessert. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
Culinary trainer Rebecca Queeney demonstrated techniques and gave the men tips. Her main message: baking requires precision and patience.
The program, run by the Snapchef Foundation in partnership with the Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office, is designed to give the men the skills and support they’ll need to get a job and succeed on the outside. Among the first graduates, it’s working. Eighteen men have completed the course, and of the eight of them who have been released from jail, seven have continued to accept support from the program and are working. Three have jobs in the food industry, while the other four are employed in different fields.
The program is funded by a grant from the state’s Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. Since 2017, the state has increased funding for initiatives like this one about tenfold, to $2.7 million in the current fiscal year. The Massachusetts Department of Correction separately funds re-entry programs for people in the state’s prisons.
Studies have found that people who have a steady job after leaving jail or prison are much less likely to commit another crime. And those who acquired new skills or held a job while they were incarcerated were 24% less likely to return to prison.
Isaias Torres measures ingredients to make sugar cookies as Matilda Holland, participant success coordinator with The Snapchef Foundation, and Sheriff Patrick McDermott watch. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
At the Dedham jail, four groups of men have taken the eight-week cooking course. Queeney has taught them kitchen fundamentals and safety, such as how to properly use a knife, make common sauces and roast vegetables. She’s also helped them make several entrees.
Isaias Torres, who’s 26 and from Boston, said his favorite was an Asian stir fry.
“It’s good to put in the work in making something and enjoy it after, and see that other people are enjoying the same thing you made,” he said.
After removing sugar cookies he made from the oven, he sampled one.
“ It came out really nice,” Torres said. “I haven’t eaten fresh baked cookies in a long time.”
He and the other men will leave jail with a certification in safe food handling —something restaurant managers like to see when hiring.
Isaias Torres said he’s always enjoyed watching his father cook, and now he’s happy he’ll have new skills to cook for his own kids and to look for cooking jobs when he leaves jail. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
“I’m glad that I’m getting all this experience now,” said Torres, who also took an entrepreneurship course at the jail. “I feel like it’ll definitely give me an advantage the day I’ll step out of here.”
Queeney hopes employers will give her students a chance.
“They’re charismatic, they’re hardworking, they’re willing to learn new skills,” she said. “There’s so much loyalty when somebody puts a little trust in them.”
Support beyond bars
What makes this program different from some others is what happens after the men leave jail.
The Snapchef Foundation pays the participants a stipend and sticks with them for up to a year. A staff member helps them apply for jobs both in and outside of professional kitchens, prepare for interviews and address issues that may prevent them from staying employed.
Trainer Rebecca Queeney talks with class participant Marino Pimentel as the other students listen. Queeney teaches the men everything from proper chopping techniques to how to make common sauces, entrees and desserts. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
The Norfolk County Sheriff’s Office has a support system for the men, too. Last year, it opened a center in Braintree that provides services including mental health, housing and job support to men after they get out of jail.
“We have the no-excuse mentality,” Sheriff Patrick McDermott said. “If these guys are going to get out and they say they can’t make it to work because of lack of transportation, we’ve got partnerships with Uber. We have our community resources vehicle that can take them to their job. So it’s not just a program to mark time while these guys are doing their time here at the jail.”
Data from 2020, the most recent year available, show about half of the men released from the Norfolk County jail were arraigned on new charges within two years. Updated state data are expected in the coming weeks.
McDermott, who was elected in 2020, hopes his department’s efforts to help men prepare for life after release and to support them after will reduce recidivism.
‘I want to cook everything’
On the night of WBUR’s visit, David Peters was serving as the wing man. His fellow participants in the culinary course wanted something savory to eat before their desserts. Peters had learned how to make spicy chicken wings in class a few weeks earlier.
David Peters works to perfect his spicy chicken wings during a culinary class at Norfolk County Correctional Center. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)
“I want to make them a little bit crispier this time,” Peters, 37, said as he pulled a basket of wings out of a fryer with bubbling hot oil. “The guys said I should do it again. So I’m trying to master it.”
Before he was incarcerated, Peters worked as a laborer in warehouses and most recently in a kitchen making meals for homeless shelters in Boston. He said his interest in cooking blossomed while taking the course, and he looked forward to using his new skills.
“My wife cooks a lot, and I want to be able to help her out. Plus, I want to cook for my children,” he said. “And this program made me really want to cook. Now I want to cook everything.”
Peters said he wanted to work as a cook after getting out of jail. Based on the review of classmate Marino Pimentel , Peters he should be hired.
“Best chicken wings on the planet,” Pimentel said after sampling the night’s wings.
Now out of jail, Peters is getting to use those skills he learned in the jail kitchen. He just landed a job as a full-time line cook at a South Shore restaurant.
Dining and Cooking