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After being released, he got a job at I.d., a restaurant in Delafield, where’s he‘s still employed.

The Rock County Jail’s RECAP Garden hosted its seventh-annual Farm to Table dinner Wednesday at the Rock County Fairgrounds’ Craig Center in Janesville.

The dinner usually takes place at the RECAP garden on the jail property, but this year it was at the Craig Center. Inmates helped the culinary team prep, plate, and serve each course. The menu made use of produce from the RECAP Garden prepared by the Geronimo Hospitality Group, specifically executive chef Joe Heppe, Ward, and their culinary team.

Ward said preparing the meal “was a way for me to give back and show people that there is a way that you can apply yourself and make good choices,” Ward said.

Surrounded by scarecrows, hay bales, gourds, squash, and corn stalks wrapped in lights, guests enjoyed a five-course gourmet dinner of watermelon and tomato salad, drunken shrimp, ancho-guajillo pepper glazed pork belly, smoked Mac Farlane pheasant and peach tres leches trifle

“It’s a good event to bring the community together and show thanks to all the people that support us. And, of course, to show off our garden and help support it,” Site Supervisor Jason O’Connor said.

Sgt. Jay Williams, in charge of the RECAP program, thanked community members for joining the dinner, and continuing to support the RECAP program.

“[The volunteers] do excellent work. They work great with the inmates. They have the vision and heart for people who need a second chance or a tenth chance, whatever it is, whatever they need to get back on track,” Williams said.

RECAP inmates also expressed their thanks.

“This is an opportunity to help out and give back. We want to show appreciation for what [we’re able to do] in the RECAP program,” said jail inmate Antonio Brown.

Conversations were lively as the sold out dinner was served. Folksy style covers of rock and country music filled the hall as The Jason Thomas Band from Fort Atkinson played for the guests.

Tickets were $75 and included the dinner and a chance to win prizes, with proceeds going to support the RECAP Garden, where inmates learn while incarcerated to tend to seasonal plantings.

“It goes right back into the garden,” O’Connor said. “We use it to purchase seeds, tools, anything we need to upgrade our garden.”

This is the first year Geronimo Hospitality Group prepared the dinner.

“We’re proud to be part of the RECAP event as well as getting involved in the Janesville market,” Heppe said. “Geronimo Hospitality has been in Beloit forever and we’re starting to branch out and work with other communities. We want to help out where we can.”