COOK COUNTY JAIL — Some inmates at Cook County Jail can now have fresh brick-oven pizza delivered straight to their cells, thanks to a new program from Sheriff Tom Dart's office.
The 10-inch pizzas, which are made on-site by fellow inmates, start with a margherita base and can include several toppings. Prices range from $5 to $7, according to Cara Smith, Dart's chief of policy.
The pizza program grows out of an existing partnership with chef Bruno Abate, who owns Tocco in Wicker Park. For the past several years, Abate has taken inmates under his wing to teach them how to prepare fresh food in a donated wood-burning oven.
"My mission is to transfer to [the inmates] the love of food," Abate said in a 2014 interview. "Not everyone wants to be a chef. But if you have the love of food, you have the love of life."
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Pizza profits will go directly to Abate's program, which is training 25 inmates, Smith said. Taxpayers will not incur any costs from the pizza sales program, she added.
The original goal, according to Dart's office, was to sell pizzas to jail staff.
"There's not a lot of close food options" near the jail, which spans 96 acres near 27th Street and California Avenue, Smith said. "But overwhelmingly, staff wanted nothing to do with pizza that was prepared by inmates."
Now inmates in Division 11, a medium-security facility that offers arts, cooking and chess programs, can place orders Monday morning to receive fresh pizza during the week.
Smith said more than 210 pizzas have been sold since April 20.
"The [cooking] program provides job training, extra custody credit and life skills," Smith said. "Some have left the program and found jobs in the community. When we equip people with skills before they're released, we reduce the likelihood that they'll come back."
"This is a win-win situation," Smith added, "and we don't have many of those around here."
