College of the Desert, RIVCO Sheriff’s Department cook up partnership on inmate culinary program

The Riverside County Sheriff’s Department and College of the Desert have teamed up for the first time to lower crime in our communities through an inmate culinary arts program.

“They are taught theory. How to buy the product, how to handle products. We practice in the kitchen," said Chef Gordon Poster, Adjunct Culinary Instructor at College of the Desert.

His students learn to develop an entire menu during the 8-week program, which started at the end of February after the sheriff's department started exploring the idea in 2014.

“The inmates are registered as students of College of the Desert and they’re able to earn certificates in culinary arts,” said Dawn Jones, Administrative Manager for the Riverside County Sheriff’s Inmate Training and Education Bureau.

The program is taught inside the John Benoit Detention Center in Indio, which News Channel 3 got an exclusive look at.

"It is much less expensive to provide them education, than to keep them incarcerated,” said Martha Garcia Ed.D., Superintendent and President at College of the Desert.

This partnership between COD and the sheriff's department aims to improve the lives of residents and those who have been previously incarcerated in communities throughout the Coachella Valley.

"Our goal with working with programs with inmates is to reduce recidivism. To help give them more opportunities than what they had, and to help change mindsets so that they make different choices once they leave here, and that they don't return to a criminal lifestyle or an addictive lifestyle," said Dawn Jones.

Watch News Channel 3 at 6:00 p.m. tonight for the full story, including what the instructors themselves think about how this new program is going so far.