Now, in addition to culinary training, she's learning computer skills and getting advice on dressing professionally through Job Train.

Experts say this kind of integrated program increases prisoners' chances for future success. Mindy Tarlow is chief executive officer for the New York-based non-profit Center for Employment Opportunities.

"What's really important is to start training programs on the inside, be able to continue them on the outside," says Mindy Tarlow, chief executive officer for the New York-based nonprofit Center for Employment Opportunities. "So that people can get the training that they need in a seamless way from inside prison to outside prison."

And then, on to a job. Tarlow says vocational programs work. A 2006 study found a 12 percent reduction in recidivism among inmates who'd received job training while incarcerated. Culinary arts director Weiner says that no one who has participated in Job Train's cooking program has returned to the San Mateo prison system.

Amelia Otis, who said she was serving time me for a parole violation, was one of the winners of the cook off.

"I thought it was like a little cooking class just to keep us busy, but it's way more than that," says Otis. "It's like an experience that we can take on, that we can take beyond the walls of this facility to keep us on the right track so we don't have to end up back here."

Officials at the jail hope to hold two of these competitions each year. They aspire to open the program to more of the male inmates while also expanding it to other facilities.