Inmates at one Florida prison can learn culinary skills through an expanded UF program.
About 40 inmates at the Federal Correctional Center in Coleman, Florida, are learning how to safely prepare food through UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences’ vocational training program. Until recently, inmates could only learn how to grow and care for crops in the program.
The expansion is part of a five-year contract for $2.67 million, said Lloyd Singleton, an extension agent with the UF/IFAS Sumter County Extension Office.
The program, which began in 2011, has reduced the number of inmates who return to prison after release, he said.
He said it’s important because the U.S. has a high rate of imprisonment.
“(Our laws) may or may not change, so we need to do our best to try to keep people, once they’re released, to be law-abiding citizens and keep them out of prisons,” Singleton said.
Susan League, a program assistant for UF/IFAS extension, has taught horticulture at the prison for about two years. In her class, she’s helped inmates create resumes and participate in mock job interviews with real employers.
“It makes an impact, not only for our students, but it makes an impact on the public as well, which helps soften their re-entry, which is what we’re all about,” League said.
