“Brotherhood” of SCI-Greene inmates take pride in holiday meals
Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard
SCI-Greene inmate Kevin weighs a portion of roast beef for the prison’s holiday meal.
Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard
SCI-Greene inmate Kevin weighs freshly shaved roast beef to portion holiday meals to be served to inmates and staff on Christmas.
SCI-Greene inmates James (left) and Alexei prepare a pie crust for the prison's holiday meal on Christmas. Between 52 and 54 pies will be made for the lunch.
Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard
SCI-Greene inmate Kevin portions roast beef for the prison’s holiday meal to be served to inmates and staff. A total of 1,800 pounds of roast beef will be served.
Alyssa Choiniere | Herald-Standard
SCI-Greene inmate James peels potatoes for the prison’s holiday meal to be served to inmates and staff. About 1,500 pounds of potatoes will be cooked, along with 100 gallons of gravy.
SCI-Greene inmate James peels potatoes for the prison's holiday meal to be served to inmates and staff. About 1,500 pounds of potatoes will be cooked, along with 100 gallons of gravy.
Within rows of barbed wire and a succession of armored doors, holiday meals are painstakingly prepared by a group of prisoners that consider each other family.
“You get a brotherly bond,” said Kevin, an inmate at the State Correctional Institute at Greene in Waynesburg, describing how he and other inmates working in food service finish each other’s sentences. “It’s like they’re extended family, from me being around so many years.”
The prison’s policy prohibited discussion of crimes, using last names or photographing identifying features.
The inmates working in food preparation will prepare a holiday meal to be served on Christmas for 2,300 to 2,400 inmates and staff. Their menu includes 1,800 pounds of roast beef, 1,500 pounds of potatoes, 120 gallons of green beans, 100 gallons of gravy, rolls and 52 to 54 sheet pans of pie — all baked from scratch. Prison staff supervise the inmates in the kitchen, maintaining security protocols and directing food safety, cleanliness and hygiene.
“My cookie sheets are cleaner than yours,” said Correctional Food Service Supervisor II Michael DeCarlo, lifting a gleaming sheet pan greased and ready for pie crust. “I guarantee you.”
DeCarlo has worked at the prison for 24 years, and he has never missed a Christmas. He said he leads by example and wants his staff to see him in a chef’s apron preparing the holiday meal alongside them every year.
“It shows my staff that I’m no better than them. That’s the bottom line,” he said.
Inmate cooks must prove themselves with janitorial duties before moving to the kitchen. Work ethic and attitude determines whether they will get a promotion, said Correctional Food Service Manager Dan Davis. The inmates are paid 19 cents per hour to start. They can make a maximum of 42 cents per hour and work 6½-hour shifts.
Few of them have experience cooking, though some claim to be experienced chefs until DeCarlo asks them “some chef questions.” The first lesson they learn is hygiene. Walking through the prep area, he touched a bearded inmate’s shoulder and briefly gestured toward his own chin, reminding his crew member to use a hair net for his scruff. His pride in his work translates to the inmates.
“I’m a specialist at rice and noodles,” said Antonio, grasping the top of his chef’s apron he temporarily traded for his rust-colored jumpsuit. “I’m the best rice and noodle maker in the state.”
Inmates and staff have a special holiday meal for all major holidays. Turkey is served on Thanksgiving, pork and sauerkraut fills the trays on New Year’s Day, and barbecue and picnic-themed meals are prepared over summer holidays. Their meals are a bit bigger and the meal periods a bit longer on holidays.
“We do stuff them, especially on the holidays,” DeCarlo said. “We want to keep their morale up. They can’t be with their families, so we keep them full.”
Superintendent’s Assistant II Carol Scire said preparing holiday meals across the country is a meaningful and traditional process. Those traditions are not lost behind the prison walls, she said.
“They’re not having hot cocoa in the morning. They’re not opening presents with their kids,” she said. “Inmates become family working together.”
DeCarlo said the Christian inmates eat last so they can celebrate Christmas together as a community.
For those celebrating other holidays or those with special diets or allergies, Kevin is one of those to prepare it.
He follows a book to prepare the special meals, taking care to select the right ingredients to make kosher food or avoid allergens and gluten.
“I really know the book like the back of my hand,” he said.
Alexei said the job gives him stability, which builds character. He said he enjoys cooking because it is a way he can take care of the correctional officers and inmates.
“We all work together as a unit, as a team,” he said when asked to describe the dynamic in the kitchen.
“Good leadership, right?” a corrections officer chided playfully, leaning against the wall by the door.
“Uh, leadership,” Alexei said with a jovial smirk. “Yeah.”
The inmates and staff form a bond by working together, DeCarlo said. They are sometimes the first to identify if a prisoner is having a problem.
“We see them more than their counselors do. We see them every day,” he said.
Antonio has been working in the kitchen since 1994 where he learned how to cook at age 19.
“I grew up on that job,” he said.
Now he trains other prisoners in the kitchen. One of his students was Alexei.
The most satisfying moments are when he is teaching a person and they “get it.”
DeCarlo took notice of Antonio’s interest and skills, and promoted him through the ranks.
“He took a liking to it, and we took a liking to him,” he said. “Like he said, he got it.”
James learned he enjoyed cooking while serving his first prison sentence in 1995. When he was released, he started working toward an associate’s degree, which was interrupted by another prison stint. He finished his degree after he was released, and returned again, making cooking a stronger constant in his life than freedom.
“It’s a passion. There’s this passion to cooking, to make people happy,” he said. “I feel very comfortable. It’s like this is where I’m supposed to be.”