Cook Co. Jail Delivers Pizzas By Inmates, For Inmates (VIDEO)

CHICAGO, IL — Inmates in a medium-security area of Cook County Jail can now have pizza delivered to their cells. But they shouldn't be expecting a deep dish pie from Giordano's or even a slice of thin crust from a shopping mall staple like Sbarro. These pizzas are prepared at the facility by fellow detainees as way to help fund a jail program designed to give inmates work skills they can use when they're released, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The idea was started by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart, and the pizzas are available to inmates in Division 11, the section of the jail that can house 1,536 mostly medium-security prisoners, the report stated. For between $5 and $7 — the money comes out of the detainees' commissary cash accounts — inmates can order six different pies, ranging from standard margherita or sausage pizzas to a more elaborate "four seasons" pizza that comes with soppressata salami, mushrooms, olives and eggs, the report added. The cost not only pays for the pie, but it also gets the pizza delivered to the cell.

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These pizzas were made available to inmates starting April 20, and since then, the sheriff's office says more than 200 pies have been sold as of Monday, May 8, the Tribune reports. Money raised from the pizza sales helps pay for the jail's "Recipe for Change," a program developed by restaurateur and chef Bruno Abate, owner of Tocco in Wicker Park, the report stated. The program by Abate, an Italian immigrant, teaches inmates cooking skills that can be useful once they're out of jail and need to find employment, the report added.

WATCH: Cook County Jail inmates can now order pizza made by fellow detainees as part of a new sheriff's office program:

The pizza sales also mean county taxpayers don't have to foot the bill for the Abate-run program. Originally, Dart suggested inmates prepare and sell food to jail staff, an idea that guards nixed, given the potential pitfalls of such an arrangement, the report stated. Plans, however, are already in the works to possibly have food trucks sell inmate-cooked dishes, the report added.

More via the Chicago Tribune

Cook County Jail inmates can order pizza prepared by their fellow detainees thanks to a new sheriff's office program. (Screen shot via video by The Associated Press)

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