The Visits' Centre Cafe at Boronia Pre-release Centre for Women not only provides a comfortable environment for family and friends to visit with prisoners but also plays an essential role in the centre's hospitality and catering program.
The hospitality and catering training program is part of the overall initiative to help prisoners improve their education and life skills.
The full course is a minimum of six months. It covers basic meal planning, cooking and how to manage a budget - important skills that many of the prisoners at Boronia have never had the opportunity to develop.
Between four and eight women are involved in the program at any time. As many of the women are not at Boronia long enough to complete the full course, it has been designed so they can continue their training and earn a certificate with Hospitality Group Training following release.
Under the guidance of their trainers, the women not only learn how to prepare the food but how to interact in professional settings.
Prisoners have gained valuable work experience preparing and serving food at many functions for Government and the community. On average, they cater for one function a week and catering requests have been made up to six months in advance.
Through a partnership with a restaurant in Northbridge, trainees also receive management training for the hospitality industry.
After they successfully complete the program, the women earn a TAFE Certificate II in Hospitality, which can help them gain employment once they are released.
For further information about the catering service, please contact Patrick Wingert on (08) 9212 3545.
