AIRWAY HEIGHTS, WASH. — After its vendor discontinued the bread base that the Washington State Correctional Industries’ (CI) food program was using, its customers noticed the change, and not in a good way.

The food program, which provides meals for the Washington Department of Corrections, county jails and Meals on Wheels programs in the state, is staffed by about 128 inmates.

While working to get its bread back on track, Barlow knew that he needed to improve worker training as well. 

Turnover is high as workers cycle through a variety of classes and other programming as part of their rehabilitation so the need for training is ongoing. Barlow estimated that up to half the workers in the program are going through the training at a time.

Several months ago, he got in contact with Andrew Barker, instructional designer at AMF Bakery Systems, for help.

“We were developing our own training, and I came across AMF as a solution to help me with a training program for the basics of bread manufacturing,” Barlow said. “I’m super glad I did.”

Although Barker initially thought he would be helping with equipment training videos, it became clear that what the WCI needed was instructional help on the fundamentals of baking. 

“This teaches them the processes rather than each piece of equipment, which they will figure out on the job,” Barker said.

Together Barlow and Barker have developed four training videos, including fundamentals of baking and mixing and the importance of proofing.

The videos have been used about six to seven months now and are incorporated into classes for the workers. These baking basics are woven through other instructions about the processes and equipment at the bakery, which is certified by the US Food and Drug Administration. The facility produces the equivalent of a $24 million food manufacturing plant annually, Barlow said.

“We’ve also taken the opportunity to include safety as part of (the training),” Barlow said. “We’ll take pictures of pinch points where we’ll show them how to lift properly in our actual process as we’re watching the video. It’s been very successful for us.”

Bakery items produced at the facility include bread, buns, dinner rolls, cookies, muffins and more.

The bakery makes full meals that are frozen before being shipped to other parts of the state. The Food Factory/Food Manufacturing program is part of CI, which is under the Washington Department of Corrections’ Reentry Division. CI employs about 1,500 inmates and provides opportunities at 11 different prisons in the state. 

A variety of industries can be found in the prisons, including one that makes furniture and another that has an optical lab that makes an average of 10,500 pairs of glasses for children in low-income programs in the state monthly, according to Mimi Jansen, brand and mission administrator for Washington State CI.

Workers learn not only how to produce these items but also are learning soft skills to help them succeed in a work environment.

Barker said AMF understands the importance of collaborating with the WCI for a variety of reasons, including helping educate inmates who could become valued workers for their customers, who are always looking for employees.

“A lot of our customers are saying not only are they having a lot of trouble with turnover, but now the people that come in to apply for these jobs often have no previous experience with baking,” Barker said. “It really helps to have someone who understands how you bake bread. It gives these individuals an advantage over those other people trying to apply for those new jobs as well. 

Barlow said the videos have helped improve the products – complaints have virtually dried up – and the hope is that it has given workers a leg up when they leave prison and seek a job.

“They can articulate the process in an industry-standard way,” he said. “So when they go in for an interview, I think it’s going to be beneficial to them. And that’s what we’re prepping them for; that’s what we’re hoping for is that they’re able to take the skills and go get a job.”

Barlow doesn’t have any current plans to produce more videos but would like to expand the training program in the future to help teach workers about the other bakery items they produce.