“It’s borderline as if I weren’t in prison”, prisoners open a restaurant in Baumettes

Amir* neatly arranges the coats of the first guests to arrive in the cupboard, close to the kitchen. The room, nicely decorated, still smells of fresh paint. Behind the diligent young waiter, the cooks are busy making the final preparations before the official inauguration of the Les Beaux Mets restaurant.

“We have to have the equipment all put away in two minutes, okay? And the work plan, you have to leave it all clean when you’re done. That’s good for you ? Sandrine Sollier, the head of this brand new establishment, gives the final instructions to her brigade. Nothing, apparently, seems to distinguish Les Beaux Mets from another classic bistronomic restaurant. Except for one small detail. In a corner of the room, near the tables and cutlery, a certain Nathalie, in uniform, watches over the grain. “My role is to be in position on the set, she explains. In particular, it is necessary to count the knives several times during the service, to prevent the prisoners from leaving with them in the cell. That’s why the knives are sealed. »

More freedom

Because Nathalie is a brigadier supervisor within the Baumettes, and the staff of this restaurant, all detained within the famous Marseille prison. After five years of gestation, Les Beaux Mets opens this Tuesday, and at the same time becomes the first restaurant run by prisoners and open to the public. Thirteen Baumettes inmates volunteered to be part of the adventure, like Amir.

“Basically, I’m interested in cooking,” says the 22-year-old. In the end, I am a server, but it allows me to discover something. Above all, it helps me to think less about my problems. It allows me to have more freedom in relation to others, to see other faces, another setting than my cell. It’s borderline as if I weren’t in prison. I’m out from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. The others, they only have the right to two hours of walks a day. Recently convicted, Amir is due out of detention in 2024.

“We are boxed, like umbrellas”

“Me, I wanted to do it first to work, abounds his colleague server Driss*. There, the time is made profitable in a useful way. It is rewarding. We don’t feel like we’re in a cell, where we don’t do anything. The young man points to an object beside him. “We are boxed, like umbrellas. »

“I am supposed to go out in March 2024, explains Farid, an apprentice cook. By integrating the restaurant, it can allow me to go out more quickly. I’m not going to hide it from you, there is a strategic side. But not only. At 30, normally, we build something. Here, I am taking myself out of context. And time passes much faster than in the cell. And I learn a beautiful trade. But I will not do this job outside. I have other projects. I have always been in import-export. »

This initiative, initiated by both the prison administration and the Festin association, also aims to encourage vocations in a sector of activity in tension, and thus better prepare for the reintegration of these prisoners. “I earn a little money, and it helps me to eat,” explains Amir. And then, after, I will be able to write that on my CV as experience. I had never done the server before. The first few days, I messed up everything. But why not do that outside, if there is work. On Thursdays and Fridays, we are helped to write CVs. »

Encourage vocations

“Everyone makes mistakes,” says chef Sandrine Sollier. They made bigger mistakes than us. But we are more than mistakes. We feel that they are very diligent and very attentive. I am pleasantly surprised by the work provided. “We’re here to show them off,” says Marc Balthazard, the establishment’s maitre d’. I think that someone just needs to help them to go in the right direction. We will also try to find them a job outside, when we go out. »

And to launch with a smile: “And then as they arrive with supervisors, they are always on time. And since alcohol is forbidden in prison, they are fresh and ready to work. They didn’t party the night before! It remains for these apprentice cooks and waiters to succeed in their baptism of fire. After a week of running in with officials and journalists, the restaurant will open to the public on Tuesday. “I’m a little apprehensive,” breathes Amir. A hundred people have already booked, four days before their visit, on the Internet, as required by the regulations. Time in particular to check the lockers of the guests, who will have to leave cash and mobile phones in a box outside the restaurant.

*All detainees’ first names have been changed.

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