Contrary to the way the movies depict prison mealtimes, prisoners don’t eat in a central dining hall. Meals are plated in a kitchen, then transported to prisoners. Depending on their security classification, prisoners can eat in their cells, or in communal areas within their cell block.
Getting warm food to prisoners can therefore be a challenge as prisoner accommodation is spread over large areas and there is usually one central kitchen at each prison.
As a solution to this, prisoners working in the Corrections Inmate Employment (CIE) engineering workshop at Christchurch Prison designed a cart which can transport meals to the outerlying units quickly and efficiently, while keeping the meals warm. The steel cart attaches to a quad bike and is driven from unit to unit dropping off prisoners’ meals.
Christchurch Prison’s CIE Principal Engineering Instructor John Hewitson says transporting meals from the kitchen to the prisoners can take time and that can affect the temperature meals are at when they reach their destination.
“The food cart not only solved a problem, but it gave prisoners a chance to practice valuable skills,” he says.
“It’s just one example of the sort of work we do, training prisoners to develop skills in drawing and design, hydraulics, general fabrication and welding, fitting, painting and sheetmetal work.”
John says the engineering workshop focuses on providing an environment that helps prisoners to develop knowledge, skills and work ethics.
“We teach and assess a wide range of NZQA qualifications, teaching skills important to the engineering industry such as welding tickets and forklift licences,” he says.
The prisoners at the newly-opened Auckland Region Women’s Corrections Facility (ARWCF) are the lucky recipients of the food cart, which is driven around the 47-hectare site delivering meals.
CIE Catering Instructor Scott Harvey says that the cart is a necessary extension of the kitchen operation. “The cart is easy to manoeuvre, making it ideal to tow around the ARWCF site. It provides an ideal method of meal delivery ensuring efficient delivery of prisoner meals within 15 minutes of leaving the oven.”
Good design and warm meals: the food cart designed by prisoners at the
Corrections Inmate Employment engineering workshop at Christchurch Prison.
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ISSN 1178-8453