The world of correctional foodservice can be a forgotten-about segment. But there have been significant, important changes in the industry in the last few years that foodservice designers working in other segments can learn from.

Eric Goodrich, FCSI, principal, Rippe Associates“There has been a big shift with corrections in this country toward more of a European model,” says Eric Goodrich, FCSI, principal, Rippe Associates, who has worked on many foodservice projects in this segment. “Rather than taking the approach of just locking people up, there’s more of a focus on reform and treating people with dignity — an attempt to reduce some of the stigma associated with incarceration.”

The movement is called “trauma-informed design,” Goodrich says. Not only does it impact the design of the correctional spaces, but it also impacts kitchen design.

“There’s a strong desire to prepare people to return to the real world; the goal has been to reduce recidivism rates, so prison design has changed,” he says. In lower security prisons, “There’s more congregate dining that looks more like a university. There’s less cold, stainless-steel cages with a little slot where you get your tray. You see more quartz and tile and wood tones, just like you would see at a small college. One client even wanted a full barista-style coffee shop. And traditional cells have been replaced by more of a studio apartment feel, where some actually have a balcony.”

Training Kitchens

In corrections, foodservice work in the kitchen has been positioned as rehabilitation, where inmates receive training and have jobs and a purpose. “We don’t even use the word ‘inmate’ anymore, we say ‘trustees,’” says Goodrich. “Research shows that recidivism rates for people who have worked in foodservice while they were in prison is significantly lower than the general population.”

To that end, modern correctional kitchens resemble training facilities more now than typical production facilities. Instead of simply specifying a row of 80-gallon steam kettles, Goodrich has designed and equipped full production scratch bakeries.

“A big trend is more a knifeless kitchen where you’re basically using food processing machines,” says Goodrich. “And generously spaced workstations with plenty of room to work and learn independently. When we design, we have to ask clients about these security details, so our programming discussions often involve how many workers [clients] want in the kitchen at the same time, and what type of cooking do they want them to do.”

Corrections also tend to lean on more electric equipment than gas for security reasons, but this is in tune with how the industry has been moving in general. “We’re seeing more use of induction, but the benefit of that is kitchens are quieter, cooler and have lower hood volumes overall,” Goodrich says. “It’s easier to hear and learn from instruction.”

Lesson Learned: Newer kitchens are set up to train staff, especially on electric equipment. “Every foodservice operation in the country is hiring right now, and everyone looking for trained employees,” Goodrich says.

Open Sight Lines

Correctional foodservice designers these days focus on creating kitchens to be as open as possible with no blind spots so supervisors can see everything that’s happening.

“The grim reality is we still have to design with sight lines and safety in mind so that people are easily supervised and there are no blind spots where a correctional officer can easily get attacked,” Goodrich says.

Lesson Learned: Open design works well in many segments, Goodrich points out, especially where labor is a little less skilled and employees might require more training or collaboration.

Inventory Management

In correctional foodservice, more products have to be locked up than not. “People don’t think of this, but you have to lock up yeast and sugar otherwise people can take it back to their cells and make alcohol out of it — even fruit can be fermented in cells.”

Inventory control, as a result, is an important safety strategy. “We’ve been designing more keyless entry into walk-ins with fobs and key cards. It’s quicker and easier to replace or recode versus dealing with keys that can easily get lost or stolen,” Goodrich says.

“We also design walk-ins to be more compartmentalized, where products can be backloaded and just certain areas are opened up for certain shifts. There are a lot of states that also have regulations on how many days on hand of food products you can actually store in the kitchen. The reason most of those are in place is that historically, prison riots were started because they ran out of food and food is a big motivator so that’s when people are more willing to negotiate. So, some facilities have a warehouse off-site and will only truck in a few days’ worth of food at a time.”

Lesson Learned: Some of these extremes don’t need to be applied to other foodservice facilities, but with the high cost of ingredients these days, more operators are finding ways to secure their inventories, Goodrich points out.

“The thinking goes, if we can treat them differently than in the past, give them some purpose and training and skills so that when they leave they can be successful, that’s important,” says Goodrich. “And, if you have a good food program, people are overall happier, less likely to commit violence or try a hostile takeover and it ends up costing taxpayers a lot less money over time. Just like food is medicine, food in corrections is definitely part of the healing process.”