A woman’s place is in the kitchen for inmates at the Bibb County Jail

Beau Cabell and Samantha Max

Just before noon on a rainy Wednesday in February, about a dozen women in hairnets and plastic gloves prepared a meal for the masses. The kitchen crew was tasked with cooking enough chicken patties, steamed vegetables and fresh-baked cornbread for nearly 900 hungry men and women.

The cooks didn’t wear floral aprons or starched chef’s jackets. In the industrial kitchen on Oglethorpe Street, the women also kneaded biscuit dough and buttered baking tins in white collared shirts with three words printed in bold letters across the back: “Bibb Co. Jail.”

At the Bibb County Jail in Macon, female inmates run the kitchen.

It’s better that way, said Sheriff David Davis.

“I’m not trying to sound sexist or anything, but the women do seem to keep the area cleaner, are more disciplined and follow the instructions better,” he said.

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