To establish a pilot program to provide training and certification in the culinary arts for Federal inmates to be utilized during the normal inmate meals process and to be accredited for future employment and educational opportunities, and for other purposes.

Summary: Cooking Helps Elevate Futures Act or CHEF Act - Directs the Attorney General to establish a pilot program providing federal inmates with training and certification in the culinary arts, and job placement assistance after their release from custody.

Directs the Attorney General to select ten different federal correctional facilities in different regions of the continental United States to participate in the program.

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Cooking Helps Elevate Futures Act'' 
or the ``CHEF Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) In 2008, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics, 
        the United States had more individuals in prison than any other 
        developed nation, with more than 2,000,000 individuals 
        incarcerated.
            (2) Each year, more than 650,000 inmates are released from 
        State and Federal prisons after completing their sentences and 
        such inmates return to living and participating in society in 
        communities across the United States.
            (3) There are many impediments affecting the successful 
        reentry of inmates into society, including the lack of 
        marketable job skills and the overall risk of recidivism.
            (4) Because many inmates are not prepared for reentry into 
        society and lack access to certain services and networks of 
        support, the recidivism rate for inmates in the first year 
        after release from prison is 44.1 percent, increasing to 67.5 
        percent in the first 3 years after release.
            (5) According to a 12-year study conducted by the Federal 
        Bureau of Prisons, job skills, experience, and training 
        obtained through prison work programs or vocational training 
        programs have a positive effect on post release employment and 
        recidivism, increasing the likelihood that Federal inmates will 
        successfully reintegrate into the community following their 
        release from Federal prison.
            (6) Such study revealed that Federal inmates who 
        participated in vocational training programs were 24 percent 
        less likely to recidivate and 14 percent more likely to be 
        employed at the end of the 12-month period following their 
        release from prison than such inmates who did not participate 
        in such training programs.
            (7) Culinary training is an effective strategy for 
        increasing employment rates among former inmates because of the 
        high demand for employment in the food service industry. In 
        2008, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there were 
        546,300 privately owned food service and drinking places in the 
        Unites States, offering over 1,564,000 culinary positions.

SEC. 3. ESTABLISHMENT OF PILOT PROGRAM.

    (a) In General.--Not later than 1 year after the date of the 
enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall establish a pilot 
program--
            (1) to provide training and certification in the culinary 
        arts for Federal inmates in order to provide such inmates with 
        marketable employment skills; and
            (2) to provide such inmates with job placement assistance 
        after their release from a Federal correctional facility.
    (b) Facilities Selected.--
            (1) In general.--The Attorney General shall select 10 
        different Federal correctional facilities located in different 
        regions of the continental United States to participate in the 
        pilot program.
            (2) Considerations.--In selecting Federal correctional 
        facilities under paragraph (1), the Attorney General shall take 
        into consideration for each State--
                    (A) percentage of the State's population that are 
                Federal inmates;
                    (B) the recidivism rate of such inmates; and
                    (C) the unemployment rate of such inmates after 
                release from a Federal correctional facility.
            (3) Definition.--In paragraph (1), the term ``continental 
        United States'' means a State (other than Alaska and Hawaii) 
        and the District of Columbia.

SEC. 4. ELIGIBILITY.

    The Attorney General, in consultation with the Director of the 
Federal Bureau of Prisons, shall prescribe regulations that establish 
eligibility requirements for Federal inmates to participate in the 
pilot program.

SEC. 5. CONTRACTS.

    The Attorney General may enter into contracts with entities to 
provide culinary training and job placement assistance for Federal 
inmates participating in the pilot program.

SEC. 6. REPORT.

    Not later than 120 days after the conclusion of the pilot program, 
the Attorney General shall submit to the Committee on the Judiciary of 
the House of Representatives and the Committee on the Judiciary of the 
Senate a report that details--
            (1) the number of Federal inmates who participated in, 
        completed, and received a certification under the program;
            (2) the number of such inmates who were successfully placed 
        in jobs once they were released from a Federal correctional 
        facility;
            (3) the length of time it took for such inmates to find 
        employment upon release from such a facility;
            (4) the length of time that such inmates have been employed 
        by a particular employer since they were released from such a 
        facility;
            (5) the rate of recidivism of such inmates; and
            (6) the number of disciplinary incidents such inmates were 
        involved in while incarcerated and participating in the program 
        as compared to the number of such incidents that occurred 
        involving inmates who did not participate in the program.

SEC. 7. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.

    There are authorized to be appropriated such sums as are necessary 
for each of the fiscal years 2012 through 2017 to carry out the pilot 
program.