印度新德里日前新开了一家名为“蒂哈尔美食广场”的餐馆,表面看起来其平淡无奇,但实际上这里的员工很特别,全都是已定罪并且正在服刑的杀人犯。这家餐馆于7月初开始试营业,店面宽敞,可容纳约50人同时就餐。餐馆中的7名服务员都是监狱中表现良好、即将刑满释放的杀人犯,而经理则是一名警察。
Tihar Food Court, a new restaurant in New Delhi, serves its customers a regular fare of north Indian dishes - rice, flatbreads,
lentils(扁豆),
samosas2(咖喱角), and more. You'd probably get to eat these dishes at many other restaurants in India's capital, but here's what's special about Tihar Food Court - the food is prepared and served by convicts serving time for murder at New Delhi's
infamous3 Tihar Jail.
The restaurant opened earlier last month within the
sprawling4 Tihar complex - South Asia's largest prison - as a
rehabilitation5 effort on an experimental basis. It is a rather simple eatery with indoor and outdoor seating for around 50 customers, and cream colored walls decorated with paintings made by prisoners. The small staff consists of a manager who is also a police
constable6(治安官,警察), and seven convicts who have displayed good behavior over several years of
imprisonment7.
To be
eligible8 to leave prison for a few hours of work at the restaurant,
inmates9 must have a high school education and need to have maintained an 'unblemished' record for at least 12 years. They mostly pick prisoners who are due to be released within two years time, so they don't feel too
tempted10 to escape. The inmates walk or ride a cycle to work everyday completely unsupervised, as the authorities
apparently11 trust them enough not to provide an escort.
Earlier this year, the selected inmates were put through a special course designed by the Delhi Institute of Hotel Management. The course trained prisoners on various aspects like cooking and housekeeping. The program also included a job recruitment fare for the inmates who were about to leave prison for good. Those who work at Tihar Food Court are now paid 74 rupees ($1.2) a day.
The restaurant is currently tagged under TJ's brand of products made exclusively by prisoners, like
pickles12, cookies, potato chips, clothing and furniture. The most expensive dish on the menu is the '
deluxe13 thali', priced at 150 rupees ($2.5), and the cheapest is the
samosa1, at 10 rupees ($0.16).