Some people say that the smell of prison is a mixture of male sweat, urine, rust, and mold. You only smell it once, and you will never forget it for the rest of your life.
However, in the small town of Padua in northern Italy, there is a prison where the air is mixed with the sweet aromas of cream, vanilla, chocolate, and honey. Just smell it once and you will fall in love with it.
This "abnormal" sweetness comes from the bakery "Giotto" (Giotto) in Padua's prison. The employees of this bakery are all prisoners in the prison.
In the kitchen of this bakery, soothing classical music wafted through it. A group of "experienced" big guys knead the dough patiently with their hands with skulls, and carefully decorated the biscuits with raspberries. Their products span the entire dessert world, from common cookies, croissants, chocolates, to Venetian buns, Easter hot cross buns, and so on.
This "prison bakery" has also won a series of baking awards-the first prize of the "Taste" public choice in Florence in 2012, the "Italy Best Baking Laboratory of the Year" in 2008 and 2013, and so on.
The "wild" men who were keen on violence when they were in prison gradually fell in love with whipped cream and flour sifting in the prison walls.
Although there is no physical store, the Internet still makes this prison bakery popular. Among them, the shop’s signature "Panettone" cake has won the "Top Ten Italian Christmas Cakes" for many years. Every year when Christmas comes, the entire team can make tens of thousands of Panettones.
A prisoner once said: “Whenever I make a cake, I imagine who my customer is—could it be a struggling grandfather who saved money to buy for his little granddaughter?” These food-related issues Gentle association, let the former "cruel-hearted" guys return to tenderness.
However, this prison baking shop was not favored by the public when it was first established. Some people think that the government's investment in such a bakery is a waste of public finances, and some people think that a group of criminals who behave misbehaving together to make desserts may produce some poisonous and fatal dishes. Some customers even vomited out the cake they had eaten in front of the person in charge of the bakery, claiming that they could not bear the "food made by prisoners". However, the prisoner's dessert masters did not become discouraged because of this. They have more time than ordinary people to hone their dessert skills, and the reputation of this store has gradually improved. Gradually, more and more customers fall in love with their products and are more willing to understand prisoners.
Since the establishment of the bakery in 2005, the prison’s recidivism rate has been reduced by half. According to data from the Italian Ministry of Justice, the average recidivism rate in Italy is around 70%, but the recidivism rate of prisoners who have worked in this bakery has dropped to 30%.
Therefore, the initial public doubts gradually disappeared. This bakery not only helped the society reduce the number of prisoners who have not changed after teaching, but also accidentally saved the government a lot of money-facts show that every 1 million euros (approximately 8 million yuan) invested in prisoners' reemployment training can give finances. Save 9 million euros. You know, Italian prisons are the most crowded prisons in Europe.
Criminology professor Jima Marotta said: “Work and creative tasks are the best way to prevent prisoners from committing crimes again.”
The salaries offered by this shop to prisoners are also quite good, not because of their special status. Just squeeze and exploit them. Every prisoner is a “regular worker” who has signed a fixed-term contract. Every month, the prison sends their income to their family members.
The person in charge of the bakery said: “The bakery allows the prisoners to establish a connection with the outside world, allowing them to feel their own value.”
Therefore, when ordinary prisoners are eager to escape through the "jailbreak", some people are attached to the bakery because of their nostalgia. And said that "I don't want to be released from prison."
Surrounded by small cakes and small breads, they became peaceful and friendly. In the team, they said "feeling loved in some indescribable way." There is no longer only regret and pain in prison, but also sweetness, love and hope.
"No one wants to escape from love", this is probably the fundamental reason why they are unwilling to leave. At the entrance of Pavato Prison, there is a row of scarlet letters-"Man cannot live like a beast", saying the poet Dante.
The prisoners who go out of this door can probably do it, because this is the power of food and love.
