An Invite From a Prison Restaurant: Silvia Polleri / Founder and Manager, Restaurant InGalera

Direct Talk

A popular restaurant in Milan, Italy.

It's noted for both quality and service...

and the fact that
it's located inside a prison.

Indeed, its name

"InGalera"

actually means, "behind bars."

Restaurant InGalera (behind bars)

The chefs and waitstaff
working there are all inmates.

In fact, the establishment serves
as a rehabilitation program

to help inmates reintegrate into society.

Italian prisons continue
to suffer from overcrowding,

an issue highlighted by the
European Court of Human Rights in 2013,

and drastic measures are needed
to reduce recidivism rates.

Prison overcrowding is a tragedy.

We stigmatize people who have been in prison.

The goal is to reduce repeat offending.

By not closing people inside a bubble,

intermingling!

We met with Silvia Polleri,

founder of the world's
first restaurant inside a prison,

inside InGalera,

behind bars.

An Invite From a Prison Restaurant

Starting with the name, "InGalera."

Actually, because
it's inside a correctional facility,

it needed to show that's what it was.

It's the truth.

Then the decision
to put posters on the walls,

even this is a gimmick.

I did it even though the architect
I had design it didn't agree.

Because they're pleasantly ironic.

The theme is always the same.

Because it's the truth.

People want to get out of prison.

But the current recidivism rate
of inmates who, after release,

fail to reintegrate,

commit further crimes,

and end up back in prison, is at 70%.

And, as a result, prison overcrowding
has created a humanitarian crisis.

Remember that if an inmate goes to prison

because he committed crimes

and we punish him

and cause him pain to the point

that he thinks his survival is at risk,

this person will never be able
to make space inside himself

to think about the damage he's done,

which is what we should want him to do.

And we don't get this by causing him pain.

Prison overcrowding is a tragedy.

When you put eight people
in a four-person cell,

it doesn't work!

Because then all that person
can think about is his survival.

He forgets why he even ended up in prison.

Founder of this restaurant in a prison,
Silvia Polleri.

Formerly a preschool teacher
for over 20 years,

she subsequently started
an upscale catering business.

Due to this experience,

she was invited to Bollate Prison
in her hometown of Milan.

As part of a social reintegration
rehabilitation program,

she hired inmates to cook
and cater for clients in the city

But, while believing that what she was doing
did benefit society in some way,

she began to feel that its potential
for real social impact was limited.

The dream of opening
a restaurant in prison came late.

Actually, in my career,

I've realized that the biggest issue
for someone stuck in prison

is being outside of society.

I always say that it's the courts
that decide the length of sentence,

but we as society never set them free.

We stigmatize people who have been in prison,

regardless of their crime

or how long they were inside.

The goal is to reduce repeat offending.

How do you do that?

By not closing people inside a bubble,

but rather by giving them
opportunities to integrate.

It's not just for their own benefit,

or for economic reasons,

but for the good of society as a whole.

So, it's important to share in
more of the prison's activities,

of what it has to offer.

Intermingling!

When they first opened,

Polleri invited a top chef in
to train the inmate staff.

Considering all the trouble
members of the public would have to endure,

things like showing ID, security checks,

and confiscation of mobile phones,

she believed that top-quality food
and service were essential.

The staff are all very kind, welcoming

and the food is really good,

no matter what the place might look like.

It's beautiful for the message it sends,

because it fills the days
of those who work here,

and it gives them a future when they leave.

Would you recommend this restaurant?

Absolutely!

I've always believed that cooking
is something that opens your mind

through creating, planning,

the ingredients themselves,

the colors, the fragrances,
the flavors, the smells.

It wakes up all five senses.

I'd say it's almost a magical place for me

because you create the conditions
for your customer to feel at ease,

to feel at home.

And when a person feels that way,

they feel like talking.

Alessandro
Inmate
What's most rewarding about working here?

We have little time to win the diner over,
both with the food and with service.

So it's a miniature relationship
with the diner.

We're satisfied if the diner
thanks us when he leaves.

99% of diners turn to us with questions,

wanting information,
trying to get in on the project.

Trying to better understand
the different realities here.

Bollate Prison has a number of
work-based rehabilitation programs.

And while the national average
recidivism rate is 70%,

Bollate's is just 17%.

In particular, Polleri's creation
of the first ever in-prison restaurant

is attracting worldwide attention.

If you want to offer your product
and your work at good quality,

you have to follow some rules very strictly.

Food services is one of the
industries with the most rules.

So, I said to myself,

"What's better than
introducing a job that's so creative

but will also prepare them
to follow the rules?"

Because people in prison
have one common denominator:

they didn't follow the rules.

When I interview them,

I never ask what crime they committed.

I ask them when their sentence will be over

because I need to know
what kind of path I can offer

and what investment I can make in them.

Acquiring the necessary professional skill
to work in a restaurant takes a long time,

and so Polleri makes a point of
hiring inmates with longer sentences.

And many of her former employees
have found work in the food service industry.

One former inmate is even
working in a world-class restaurant.

The nice thing is I still hear from them.

Many of them have found jobs
in food services,

but I'm not worried about them
all finding jobs in food services.

I'm worried about something else.

Work culture.

Davide
Inmate

I am chef.

I have been here for 7 years.

What's most rewarding about working here?

An empty plate,

seeing people eating and nothing coming back.

The fact they wipe the plate clean.

What's most important for your work?

Respect for rules.

Cooking is alchemy,

so, on this side,
it's as if we were a pharmacy.

If you don't mix two things properly,

the result won't be perfect.

We chefs are really vain.

So perfection is very important.

I think we're all very strict,
first of all, with ourselves.

And we try and convey
this strictness to others as well.

And we certainly impose it on others.

Mainly, there's the fact
that it gives them a real job.

This is above all a real job!

They earn salaries that are more than decent.

Unbelievably, they also become taxpayers.

Their payroll also includes taxes.

But I've discovered that
the driving force in life

is the sense of pride derived from belonging.

For all of us.

Each of us is proud to belong to the
good family we started or we were born into,

and proud to belong to a good job,

to be qualified,

but mainly to be recognized.

We're in the Michelin guide.

They're all proud of this.

And when they get out,

it will be on their CV,

the CV they lost when they went to prison.

And in a certain way,

I even admire the people who are serving
a sentence but still manage to stay positive,

and this is something I incentivize.

In full respect and awareness of the victims
that each of them has generated.

They have hope,

but there's also pain over what they did.

Among today's customers
is a group of students

here on a field trip
to learn about the prison.

The most important thing is this.

Who's in prison?

Humanity is!

It's the part of humanity
who broke the rules.

But it's still humanity.

All of outside society

thinks that the problem of delinquency
can be resolved

by opening more prisons.

That's not the issue.

The issue is to invest more
in training programs,

programs with the opportunity
to connect the city and the prison.

This is something
the Bollate facility does a lot,

and Milan is a city
that's very responsive to this.

They should invest in schools.

I worked in pre-schools for 22 years,

in what I call the "Bronx"
of all the suburban areas.

40 years later,

I found two of my ex-pupils in there.

It was a slap for me,

a terrible slap.

This reconfirmed that the most important
thing is good childhood education.

Welfare policies are extremely important.

We asked Polleri
to share her words to live by.

"One of life's gifts
is discovering new worlds:

you can do that as a pirate

or as a pioneer.

I chose the latter."

My respect for rules in these last 20 years

has given me the trust
of the police and administration

and has allowed me
to keep planning new projects.