Prison a la Carte32

The San Diego Women's Prison is located in the historic center of Cartagena de Indias, a tourist town in northern Colombia. In this overcrowded and violent prison environment, the restaurant Interno opened its doors to the public in December 2016. Instead of the chaotic image of prisons in Latin America, the women's prison San Diego is a pioneer in rehabilitation and improvement of prison conditions. In addition to the unique experience of tasting gastronomic dishes served by detainees in prison, it allows the prisoners of San Diego to benefit from a "secundary oportunidade" (second chance), as indicated on the wall of the facade of the restaurant.

The restaurant was founded by the Accion Interna Foundation, run by Johana Bahamon. This famous Colombian actress wanted to offer women prisoners new perspectives for the future. They are trained to work in the kitchen and dining room by local star chefs to restore their self-esteem. "Everything has changed since Interno, before we did nothing, and now we can use our hands to show the rest of society that we can do something. We feel useful,"says one of the women. For the prisoners, rehabilitation takes place through the courts, they have been deprived of their freedom, but all too often they have also lost their self-confidence. Just like visitors who eventually forget that they are in prison when they return to this warmly decorated restaurant, the prisoners see this place as a true escape route.

Around 30 women work in the restaurant, allowing them to reduce prison sentences while earning a salary. The rest of the restaurant's profit is used to improve the quality of life of the 180 prisoners.