By Chris Camire
The Lowell Sun
BILLERICA, Mass. — They landed in prison for a variety of reasons.
Dealing drugs. Stealing. Driving drunk.
But it’s what they’ve learned behind bars — or more specifically, behind a hot stove and a mixing bowl — that is hopefully going to ensure they don’t come back.
Yesterday afternoon, the 13th graduating class of the Middlesex House of Correction’s Inmate Culinary Arts Program was recognized at a luncheon and ceremony inside the Billerica prison.
Along with the culinary-arts students, a dozen inmates who recently received their GEDs while in prison were honored in a graduation ceremony, complete with blue caps and gowns, with “Pomp and Circumstance” playing on the PA system.
Several dozen family members of the inmates, as well local officials, gathered in a room in the prison to celebrate an accomplishment by their husbands, sons and boyfriends during what is obviously a very difficult time in their lives.
Many of them beamed as the inmates entered the room wearing towering chef’s hats, clean white jackets, black pants and Velcro boots.
Middlesex County Sheriff James DiPaola, who started the program several years ago, praised the inmates for making the most of the their time in prison.
“You’ve put yourself in a situation to be successful in the future,” DiPaola told the graduates. “This is about connecting the community outside the wall with the community behind the wall.”
One of those success stories is Brian Moquin, a former inmate at the Middlesex House of Correction who graduated from the Culinary Arts Program last year and now works as a chef at the Middlebury Inn.
For 30 years, Moquin was constantly in and out of the state’s correction system. He has spent time in just about every prison in the state for a variety of crimes, including assaulting correction officers while incarcerated.
Moquin told the prisoners they should be proud of doing something “positive” in a “negative atmosphere.” After living a life of crime, he said the Culinary Arts Program convinced him it was time to change his ways.
“I was an animal, but eventually I became sick and tired of being a burden to my family,” he said. “Show yourself and your family that you don’t want to do this anymore.”
DiPaola said he believes programs like this will help prevent inmates from offending again after their release.
A recent study revealed that of the 176 inmates who participated in the Culinary Arts Program, only 10 percent returned to prison, he said. DiPaola also noted that studies have found that prisoners who receive their GED while behind bars have a 23 percent less chance of returning to prison.
Benjamin Carrasquillo, a 29-year-old Cambridge man, is serving a yearlong sentence for theft. He decided to get his GED in prison so he would be able to be a better father to his 5-year-old daughter, Melinda.
“It took a lot of hard work and diligence,” said Carrasquillo, who said he plans to next enroll in the Culinary Arts Program, which is offered several times per year.
In order to be accepted to the class, inmates must be close to their release date and already have gone through programs for anger management and substance abuse. About 70 students apply for 15 spots in each three-month class.
The course was developed through the Middlesex County Sheriff’s office’s partnership with Shawsheen Valley Technical High School in Billerica. The 12-week course gives inmates enough skills so they can be hired to work in a restaurant after their sentence is served.
The program, which runs six hours a day, five days a week, teaches the men how to prepare restaurant-quality meals. The inmates graduate with 12 credits that can be applied to Middlesex Community College’s culinary-arts program.
The inmates in the program, who cook for the staff at the prison during the week, prepared a gourmet meal for yesterday’s ceremony. The buffet featured a Caesar salad, chicken tenders, sweet potatoes, and stuffed pork chops with ziti and broccoli in a cream sauce.
One of the budding chefs is Christopher Coveney, 52, of Saugus, who had the highest score in the history of the program on his final exam.
Coveney lost his job as a project manager shortly before he was incarcerated for driving under the influence of alcohol. He hopes to get work in the restaurant business when he is released early next year.
“I need a career change,” he said. “I’m hoping to crack into the food industry.
“I’m the old man of the group,” he added. “But I think this program showed a lot of these younger guys that there’s more to life than running the streets.”
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