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Keith McCord ReportingWe'll go out on a limb here and say that most people never want to spend time in jail. But we know of one jail in Utah that has such a reputation, inmates in other jails actually request to be sentenced there!
It's 11 o'clock in the morning. Lunch is just around the corner, and about 100 meals need to be ready. Apple fritters are in the deep-fryer; several dozen loaves of bread just came out of the oven. The cuisine today is mexican.
For lunch today we decided to have beef enchiladas, but we didn't go to a Mexican restaurant. We came to the Wasatch County Jail. The food is prepared by the inmates -- three meals a day, seven days a week, and this stuff doesn't come from a box.
Ferosa Bluff, Inmate: "We did some oatmeal bread, some English muffins. Everything we do is fresh and made from scratch."
The Wasatch County jail opened in 1996, and the strategy from the beginning was to not just incarcerate inmates, but treat them with respect and prepare them for when they are released.
Ken VanWagoner, Wasatch County Sheriff: "It gives us the opportunity to teach them some skills to use, not only when they're here, but when they go back home."
Besides the kitchen staff, inmates also work on cleaning, maintenence and road crews. But it's the food that attracts the most attention. Inmates in other jails request to come here.
Food Service manager Linda Maxfield says there's a constant turnover of kitchen staff, so everyone gets cross-trained for every job.
Robyn Hopkins arrived eight months ago.
Robyn Hopkins, Inmate: (Reporter: Did you have any cooking experience before you came here?) "Burning toast! (laugh.)"
Now she can handle anything in here; it's a life-skill learned while serving time.
Deputy Linda Maxfield, Food Service Mgr.: "They're learning so much. They're learning not just how to cook, they're learning how to work with each other, how to play as a team."
It's certainly a model program in the field of corrections.
