Offenders cook way back into community at Billings pre-release culinary program [Video]

BILLINGS — At the Passages pre-release center in Billings there’s a kitchen with a mission that provides structure for women to move from corrections to community.

“We’ve got a roast beef one that we did, we’ve got a couple of veggies, and some gluten-free sandwiches that we’re going to do,” says a busy Passages resident and aspiring chef as she prepares some 300 plus sandwiches for a catered event.

From sack lunch sandwiches to catered tenderloin crostini with chimichurri, this kitchen of 15 female chefs can cook just about anything.

“Today we are doing 325 box lunches for the job fair,” says Travis Dickinson, Alternatives Chef & Food Services Manager as he helps the women get their catered boxed lunches out the door and on the way to the MetraPark venue.

These chefs are 15 of 235 offenders residing at Passages, a women’s pre-release and recovery center located on South 27th Street in Billings, not far from the Montana Women’s Prison.

It’s an …