Dining's use of pre-release program with county inmates draws attenton, criticism

The work-release program is operated through the Fairfax County Sheriff's Office in collaboration with the SkillSource Group, a local non-profit organization (CC, cliff1066).

The September strike among Sodexo-employed dining workers has drawn attention to Mason Dining’s preexisting program with inmates from the Fairfax County Jail.

The work-release program, which Mason Dining began participating in during the fall of 2008, allows non-violent offenders to take positions on campus through the Fairfax County Sheriff’s Office Pre-Release Center. According to a Mason Dining representative, 16 inmates currently work at on-campus dining locations.

This came to the forefront of attention on Mason Dining practices when a recent account in the Fairfax Times said more inmates “were in the process of being hired to pick up the slack” during the Sept. 8-9 strike in which several dozen dining workers walked out of their jobs and protested working conditions alongside organizers and other support from the Service Employees International Union.

According to Sodexo’s Director of Public Relations Alfred King, the representation is inaccurate.

“No pre-release employees were hired because of the strike,” said King in an e-mail interview earlier this month. “And yes, despite SEIU's attempt at disrupting our activities, Sodexo continued to conduct its normal business operations, including the hiring process.”

A “small number” of those in the hiring process at the time of the strike were participants in the pre-release program, said King.

According to the head of Mason’s dining operations, many of the program participants began work before the strike. Eleven of the 16 participants in the program started as early as August. The remaining five began during the month of September.

Denise Ammaccapane, the resident district manager of Sodexo operations at Mason, says that Mason Dining has increased its hiring efforts overall for the fall semester in order to fill positions at the expanding number of dining venues at the university. New hires totaled 148 as of Saturday, a number Ammaccapane says accounts for normal employee turnover in addition to the growth. The number also includes student employees as well as participants in the pre-release program.  

“We made an effort to hire more students this year due to the success of opening Starbucks a year ago, [by] staffing mostly students,” said Ammaccapane, who says working a shift or two works for students and helps dining fill the gaps at the 28 locations, which operate almost 24 hours a day on the Fairfax campus.

“We’re in hiring mode,” said Ammaccapane. The Original Burger Company and two Einstein Bros Bagels operations are slated to open late this fall, with more venues planned with completion of University Hall and new housing areas.

SEIU maintains that Sodexo used inmates during the strike to interfere with workers’ right to stand up for their rights and unionize.

“It is appalling that Sodexo would use prisoners to try to break a picket line,” said Matt Painter, the communication director of SEIU at Local 32BJ.

The sheriff's department's official employment policies for the work-release program states that "in the event of a strike, each [inmate] working at the affected business will be offered the choice of continuing to work during the strike, or refusing to cross the picket line."

According to Ammaccapane, the then-total 14 pre-release employees came to work their normal scheduled hours during both days of the strike. Individuals may have worked in different locations, but relief work came from other sources.

“As we did with other employees, including student employees, we asked for volunteers who were willing to come to work and help out during the strike,” said King. Several workers from a temp agency also filled in gaps in the work force.

“No participant in the program came in specifically for the strike,” said Ammaccapane.

Mason officials know of the pre-release program and have noted that such programs can reduce the chance of an inmate relapsing into crime upon completion of his sentence.

 

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This piece first appeared in the Monday, Oct. 5 issue of Broadside. A clarification on the number of hires for the fall semester has been made since its original publication.