MTU culinary course ‘changed my life’, says Cork prisoner

Attending an MTU culinary course while serving four years in Cork Prison has turned the life of one former prisoner completely around, and he is now employed full-time as a chef in a top restaurant.

“My daughter said to me one night recently: ‘Are you working tomorrow, Dad?’ and that was the proudest moment ever for me, because she’s 16 now and she had never known me to work a job a day in her life,” William, 36, told The Echo, his voice breaking at the memory.

William, from Co Kerry, had been an early school-leaver and had come from a disadvantaged background, and a chaotic life of addiction and crime had led eventually to a four-year sentence in Cork Prison.

“I went down a bad road with drink and drugs and I came to a low point in my life where I needed to change.

“I ended up getting four years in prison.”

He began working in the kitchen, cooking for approximately 300 prisoners every day. From there, he was promoted to the officers’ mess.

“They put me forward for the practical culinary skills course.”

The programme, which is an intensive eight-week course offering prisoners the experience of working in a restaurant kitchen, is a collaboration between the Irish Prison Service and the Munster Technological University (MTU), Department of Tourism and Hospitality, the Cork Education and Training Board (CETB) and the Irish Association for Social Inclusion Opportunities (IASIO).

He said: “To be honest, being a prisoner at the time, I always had it in the back of my head: ‘This is just a course, there’s nothing to come out of it’, but the lads giving the course always reached over to me and said: ‘Keep your head in it, there is a job at the end of this’.”

When William completed the course, he and his five fellow graduates catered for a full meal at a pop-up restaurant in Cork Prison in June of last year.

There, the six men met some 30 prospective employers from the restaurant industry.

“On the night in Rathmore Rd [Cork Prison’s address] that we did the restaurant, one of the employers asked me: ‘When are you getting out?’ and I said this Thursday, and he said: ‘Call to me Friday morning’,” said William.

“I called to him Friday morning and I started work there the following Monday morning, and I’m working there since.”

All six graduates were offered work, and of the six, four are currently in full-time employment.

Ger Manley, governor of Cork Prison, told The Echo that the other two men are currently completing their sentences, with job offers awaiting when they do.

William said he barely recognises himself since he gained full-time work.

“I’d be walking in town with my daughter, and I have work colleagues shouting hello at me,” he said.

“I’m respected and liked by people in the community. I never had that before. They know my history, but they know who I am now as well.

“That course changed my life.”

On Tuesday night, Cork Prison hosted the second Open Door pop-up restaurant, with prospective employers meeting this year’s six graduates.