Peter Wood started his catering career in the Army and served in the Catering Corps for 6 years leaving in 1991. He worked as an agency chef for a year before in 1992 he joined the Prison Service at the Isle of Sheppy where he worked for 6 years as a civilian grade caterer before being promoted to Catering Manager at HMP Swaleside.  He served there for seven years before being promoted to Catering Manager at HMP Maidstone in 2005.

The kitchen facility is a large modern building within the walls; Peter gave me a guided tour before we settled in his office overlooking the work area to talk.

CR           What were kitchen facilities before the new facility was built?

PW         It was a hotch potch of an old structure that had been built years ago and then added to as and when requirements changed or dictated. It could do the required job of catering for the prisoners but it was becoming very dilapidated and was difficult to maintain and keep hygienic. The equipment was old and was constantly breaking down. The floor had been damaged by the constant water ingress. Tiles were falling off the walls, the roof had sprung a few leaks but it was sound. It was very inefficient in terms of energy use. It was a tired building that had reached the end of its life and was getting in the way of a professional, efficient, properly hygienic kitchen operation. In addition its layout made security a little more problematic than it should have been.

CR           What were the staffing levels and were you able to provide training plus a full meal choice from it?

PW         Staffing levels were eight staff plus two officers mess staff and eighteen inmates. We did not have the proper facilities to offer catering training and we were only able to produce 1 main & 1 Halal choice for the main meals plus one vegetarian, one vegan choice and any special medical diets. It restricted what we could achieve.

CR           So how long did it take to get a new kitchen and what was involved in the process?

PW         It took 4 years start to finish and the Governors and the regional catering managers support was vital. The Environmental Health Officers criticism of the old kitchen had been quite severe, both on its hygiene and the working conditions.  All this added together provided the impetus to get the go ahead for the new one.

CR           Your new kitchen, what model is it and what is its maximum catering capacity?

PW         It’s a model 540 and it has the capacity to feed 540 plus 10%. The present population of the prison is 600. So we are now at the kitchens maximum catering capacity. If there is any increase in the prisons capacity we will need an extension or replace certain items of large equipment at the very least.

CR           That sounds like history repeating itself. The new kitchen is built almost on the same footprint as the old one, so what did you do for catering facilities whilst the construction was in progress?

PW         We had a temporary kitchen installed by PKL, it was put in on the only site available and so was very constricted in its footprint. It had to be a very odd shape, 25 feet wide and 160 feet long.  It did the job as well as the site would let it, however we had to restrict the menus we could offer and due to the space it had to fit in was rather inefficient in terms of work flow. It seemed a long 13 months working in there but we did the job and the temporary kitchen coped admirably given the disadvantages it faced.

CR           Did the new kitchen come in on target, on time and who built it?

PW         Yes to both questions, it was built by Kier and it was interesting to see it being built.

CR           Looking at the new kitchen how dos it compare with the previous facility?

PW         It’s a completely different level of facility, almost impossible to compare. Its airy, plenty of light, and a joy to work in. The work flow is excellent, the equipment is all Electrolux and it’s proved to be very good,

CR           It’s a very hi tec building, I had a look in the roof space and was astounded at the amount of equipment that it contained. What is that all for?

PW         It mostly to do with saving natural resources and recycling energy. However we also have a rainwater capture system on the roof. It collects stores and then treats rainwater for use in areas such as flushing toilets. There is a computer monitoring system and a UV treatment plant in one corner of the roof space. It’s designed to save money on using water.

The majority of the equipment is used for recycling the air extracted from the kitchen by the ceiling. There are heat exchangers and heat pumps in the roof space that ensure we are using, or wasting, as little energy as is possible. Once the air is extracted from the kitchen all the heat it contains is removed and used to heat water, or power the under floor heating. The air is then replaced at a set temperature. If it needs cooling it’s done, if heated, likewise.

CR           The ceiling is a high tec work of art, many kitchens have huge stainless steel extraction boxes above specific pieces of equipment but this one is all at high level.  What sort of working environment does it provide, how reactive is it?

PW         It is almost instantaneous, when we were commissioning the kitchen we had all the equipment working, the burners on, the fryers going and the combi ovens at full blast. The temperature hardly varied whatever we did. Some systems can let in cold air or create hotspots in the room. This system creates a fabulous working environment and unlike the ceilings of yesteryear its all self cleaning, it even has sensors in the ducts to detect a build up of fat deposits. We are then notified that cleaning is needed via the computerised ceiling management system. Its one of those things you quickly don’t notice because it just does its job so well.

CR           Did you have any choice in the kit that was installed in the kitchen?

CR           What is the workflow like in the kitchen?

PW         We have an excellent flow system with ingredients coming in one way and packing and waste going back the same way. Off the main cooking area we also have prep areas for veg, meat, pastry plus a cold prep room that localises meat preparation helping to combat contamination.

CR           Do you have training facilities for inmates as do many of the new kitchens I’ve had a look at?

PW         There are no specific training facilities or a training kitchen. Although we are about to begin NVQ’s in catering for the inmates. We did ask for a training kitchen, or training facilities and they were put into the original bid, as was additional capacity to allow for possible future prison expansion however they were both refused. Probably because of pressures on budgets.

CR           Has the new kitchen reduced your manning requirement?

PW         We are now down to eight staff which includes the officers mess and sixteen prisoners. However we are looking at increasing the prisoners up to approximately sixty when the NVQ training programme & extended working hours starts. We are also looking at taking over the wing servery areas. At the moment each wing has its own servery team, so there is no overall ownership of the facilities, by bringing this into the kitchens remit we can apply common operating procedures and so improve delivery.

CR           How do you handle waste?

PW         All kitchen waste is recycled. The cardboard goes into bales, the metal is compacted, and the food waste goes into a machine called big Hanna, which is a composter. All our fluid waste is treated with a biological fluid that reduces the grease so it does not block the drains.

CR           What does the new kitchen enable you to do that the old one did not?

PW         We can go back to buying all the raw materials and make everything from scratch again. Due to lack of space we have had to buy in most of the sauces etc that we needed up to now.  I believe it’s far better to make them from first principals. So we will soon start doing just that and we soon intend to get back to 85% of all food produced in the kitchen is made from the basic raw ingredients.

CR           Interesting comment that, I recall once being told that Prison kitchens could go over to being ones that buy in the finished item and then heat it up as it would be lower cost in the long run . Now you are going to do almost the exact opposite. What is the thinking behind that?

PW         Cost and training, it is cheaper for us to buy in the raw ingredients and make the dishes from first principals. Education has become a central plank of the prison drive against reoffending and teaching inmates how to cook from first principals is essential, both for their NVQ’s and also to enable them to cook cheaply and well for themselves when they are on the outside. There is also a customer satisfaction element as well, prisoners appreciate home cooking and it shows in the satisfaction surveys we carry out. We also have greater flexibility. Were we to buy in all our food as the finished item we would be limited in the variety of dishes we could offer. Then there is the issue of special diets. We have to be able to produce food that meets the special medical & religious needs some of our inmates have. These are best done from the raw ingredients as we then know exactly what is in the meal.

Thank you Peter for talking to the Review.

The new kitchen is big, it also sits within the walls of one of the most elegant looking collection of buildings in the prison service. Apparently, English Heritage became involved in the project and insisted  it had to be sited in a position so that it did not obstruct a view of the prison church!