MSO IN THE NEWS...

Lodge: Recipe for success after prison
By Richard K. Lodge/ News Editor
Sunday, October 15, 2006

Dave Williams looked sharp in his tall, puffy chef’s hat and starched white cook’s jacket with its double row of buttons. Above his heart, stitched in black, were the words: "MSO Culinary Arts Inmate."

    Williams, a mustached, stocky man from Plymouth, was one of a baker’s dozen of Middlesex House of Corrections inmates -- MSO stands for Middlesex Sheriff’s Office -- who graduated this week from the first 12-week culinary arts program held at the jail in Billerica.

    Sheriff James DiPaola packed one of the spotless lunchrooms in the new $47 million addition to the jail with politicians and staff from the local voke school for the ceremony -- and for lunch, courtesy of the graduates.

    Staff from nearby Shawsheen Valley Technical High School set up the curriculum and testing in the jail program. Inmates spent 300 hours in the kitchen and classroom, resulting in a certificate of participation from the high school.

    As the 13 men in their matching white jackets and chef’s hats stood to receive the applause and framed papers, they stood in sharp contrast to the chain-gang approach to corrections taken by Bristol Council Sheriff Thomas Hodgson. Hodgson has come under fire for sending his inmates out -- chained together -- as road cleaning crews and for charging inmates $5 per day for meals and services.

    Inmates under DiPaola’s wing are by no means pampered, but those who are willing to take advantage of skills training probably stand a decent chance of landing a job -- instead of landing back in a cell.

    DiPaola, a former Malden narcotics cop and former state rep who has been sheriff since 1996, was asked to contrast how he runs his jail with what Hodgson is doing in Bristol County.

    "We have discipline here," DiPaola said. "I always tell people, I have two hands -- I have the punitive hand and I have the rehabilitative hand. And I ask them ’which one do you want?"’

    The rehabilitative hand was on display Thursday. Of the men who received certificates, one had already been released, yet he came back to jail to be part of the ceremony.

    One inmate is from Marlborough and agreed to talk if his name was withheld. He said he sees the culinary arts program as a leg up to a good job when he completes his 18-month sentence.

    He’s in his early 30s, has family and a "long-term girlfriend" in MetroWest who have been supportive while he serves his time for driving drunk.

    Taking a short break from the busy lunch preparations in the spotless new jail kitchen, the man said he has "been impressed with the program. They didn’t spare any expense and I know they’ve gotten a lot of support" from the sheriff, the jail staff and the staff at Shawsheen Tech.

    One reason the guards might be supportive -- other than the fact that Capt. William Bourgeois, a veteran chef and Culinary Institute of America graduate, is the culinary arts instructor -- may be because what these inmates cook during the program goes to feed the jail staff, who drop in during their varying shifts.

    "They get the benefit of the food and we’ve got the benefit of the cooking and education," the inmate said. "Obviously we get to eat pretty good, as far as jail food goes."

    He enters a pre-release work release program in a few weeks, in which he’ll live in a dorm-style setting in a ho the jail grounds, dress in "civilian" clothes and work at a job in a restaurant during the day, returning to sleep within the fence at night.

    In 11 weeks, he’s done with his sentence and hopes the culinary arts experience will land him a job back in MetroWest, possibly as a prep cook in a restaurant.

    "It’s a good opportunity for people coming out of jail. This gives you a good chance to get in the door without starting at the bottom, instead of mopping floors or washing dishes," he said.

    Peter Christie, president and CEO of the Southborough-based Massachusetts Restaurant Association, attended the jail ceremony at DiPaola’s invitation.

    Christie said he felt the food service industry in Massachusetts -- which includes just over 9 percent of the state’s workforce -- would be very supportive of the Middlesex jail program.

    "I think the program is fantastic," he said. "From an employer perspective it would remain to be seen. We certainly want qualified workers. The challenges the inmates have is proving themselves not only technically, but as important, whether they are committed to putting the past behind them, going to work and becoming honest, honorable, hard-working people.

    "If they were to do that, our industry, without a shadow of doubt, would provide them with upward mobility and satisfaction," he said.

    The inmates gave their own testaments to the program when each spoke briefly at the microphone:

    Edward Berube: "We didn’t know what we were getting into" when the program began. "We listened. We learned. And it became fun and we ran with it."

    Mark Boutin: "It was a little weird in the beginning. You got a bunch of guys in a little kitchen. ... But we learned ... really valuable information."

    Kenneth Dascoli, who plans to attend community college after he is released from Billerica: "I’ve gained immense knowledge from this class."

    Donald Donaldson: "There’s been some pain along the way. I came in here broken, beaten and battered and I’m walking out with some inspiration."

    DiPaola said that’s the idea behind the link between his department and Shawsheen to launch the cooking program.

    "This is the first of many programs we hope to have," the sheriff said, "so they can have the life skills we’re teaching them but also a skill on which they can make money for their families and themselves."

    Eight years ago, 50 percent of those released from the jail returned after committing other crimes, he said. Today it’s down to 41 percent, compared to the national average of about 48 percent.

    Charlie Lyons, superintendent-director of Shawsheen Tech, said the culinary arts training "is the beginning of a national model where vocational education experts work together with talented teachers like Capt. Bourgeois," the cooking instructor, to provide marketable job skills.

    "We as a nation have to start rethinking how we provide an opportunity for men and women who have made a mistake," Lyons said. "Without those options we all know what happens with people who don’t have the skills to make it and be productive in society."

    They end up back in a jail cell in Billerica, or worse.

    The race for governor has brought debate over who is toughest on crime and ideas for revising the Criminal Offender Record Information rules to limit access and how far back to go in including a person’s criminal offenses. The lunch table talk Thursday was more about how to encourage employers to look at the former inmates as good prospects with valuable work skills.

    Lyons said, "Those of us who are employers should think about how we can reintegrate these men into our society, by giving them a good job with good wages."

    Those who might argue for tougher sentencing and "less coddling" of inmates could see the other side of the coin by looking at jail programs, such as the one in its infancy in Billerica.

    When told about the jail’s novel culinary arts training, Middlesex District Attorney Martha Coakley said "I think that’s a great example" of how a correctional institution can capitalize on what a nearby voke school has to offer.

    "A lot of the sheriffs are experimenting with those kinds of programs," she said. "They’re the ones who know the inmate populations. They’re the ones who have some responsibility for preparing them. The sheriffs are housed in their counties and they are responsible to the police chiefs for sending the people back into those cities and towns" with life and job skills.

    That’s one simple fact DiPaola points out: Every person in his jail will be released some day, back on the streets in cities and towns across Massachusetts.

    In the debate over sentencing reform and whether to be tougher on criminals, the fact that a handful will soon leave the county House of Corrections armed with new knowledge and slotted wooden spoons would be a plus.

    Richard Lodge is editor of the Daily News and can be contacted at rlodge@cnc.com.