Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - March/April 2022 - 32

Continued from page 31
to long-term care I was lucky
to work for a place that valued
and saw the importance of
food to our senior population,
but nursing and medical care
was the primary focus. We all
know our workplaces would
not function without us, but
in corrections, we will always
be second to security and law
enforcement operations.
Background checks are
another similarity. All my
staff must pass background
checks prior to hire, just like
those of you in LTC. Our
inmate workforce must also
be cleared by our classification
staff to ensure that they are a
minimal risk while working in
the kitchen. These background
checks help keep my staff as
well as our inmate workforce
staff safe. This requirement
can lead to shortages of
workers as those checks are
being performed.
Respect for our staff is the
norm to be a successful
manager. We are all trained
to treat inmates in our care as
professionally as possible. You
all know that if you treat staff
fairly that they will usually
respond respectfully in return.
If we didn't treat our inmate
workforce fairly, uniformly,
and with respect, we would be
more at risk of being harmed.
DI FFERENCES
As mentioned above, security
and safety are the primary
focus. This means that our
knife and utensil usage is
highly regulated. Knives must
be checked out and secured to
a table or counter with a leash
while in use. Some of our
food products are regulated
as if they contain alcohol, like
flavorings, or can be used to
brew alcohol such as yeast.
Some spices, like nutmeg, can
be inhaled to get high. If we
use these products, we have
to keep logs of their use and
ensure that inmates do not
have access to them.
In Iowa, jails house people
who are serving sentences
of less than a year as well as
people who are awaiting trial.
This means that our inmates
who work in the kitchen
are not here for years like
the prison system in Iowa;
therefore, we can't really teach
them to cook because we
have constant turnover in our
inmate workforce. My staff
not only has to have culinary
skills, but also skills to teach
and manage a constantly
changing crew.
Our operation does not have
a central cafeteria so there
are virtually no food choices.
All our inmates receive trays
delivered to their housing
units. Almost all the trays
contain the same menu. The
only exceptions to this are
medically ordered diets and
religious approved diets. So,
while we do have different
meals for those reasons, the
inmates still do not really get
choices in my operation. We
do not have to deal with food
preference lists or restaurant32
NUTRITION & FOODSERVICE EDGE | March-April 2022
IT IS EASY TO
TERMINATE AN
INMATE WORKER.
Working in the kitchen
is a privilege for our
inmates.
style service to which many of
you have transitioned.
It is easy to terminate an
inmate worker. Working in
the kitchen is a privilege for
our inmates. The vast majority
of them are wonderful,
hard-working individuals
who take pride in their work
and want to learn some
life-skills and stay busy
during their incarceration.
As you may guess, there are
exceptions to this. We do
get problem workers like you
do. While we try to do some
small progressive discipline
techniques to correct or coach
away any poor performance,
if they don't improve, it
is easy to fire them. No
union rules or company
required discipline process or
unemployment hearings to
deal with when we dissolve a
work status.
PART ING
THOUGHTS
As you can see from the lists
above, correctional food
service shares more similarities
to healthcare food service than
differences. My correctional
experience has all been for
one agency in one state and
in no way encompasses all
the variables that correctional
foodservice operations have.
Just like people in healthcare
settings, correctional
foodservice operations are
dependent on geographic
location, profit or non-profit
status, independently operated
or outside contract operated,
union vs. non-union, different
county and state regulations,
size of operation, etc. Most of
my corrections colleagues will
have different experiences than
I do, but we can also learn
from each other by sharing
our stories.
If correctional food service
interests you, I would
encourage you to reach out
to your ANFP correctional
colleagues for answers to your
questions or to lend your
support. We're all in this crazy
foodservice world together,
and we all still make positive
impacts in our communities
by leading as CDM, CFPPs.
I never thought I'd end up
going to jail on a regular basis,
but it's been an interesting
journey there. If you ever
encounter me out and about,
especially if around strangers,
say loudly, " So I heard you
were in jail today. " It's always
fun to see people's expressions,
just like those youth group
kids years ago. E
Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - March/April 2022

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Nutrition & Foodservice Edge Magazine - March/April 2022
