Britain’s prisons are floundering, badly, with overcrowding and violence. Suicide and self-harm inside is on the rise. And the government’s promise to deliver a “rehabilitation revolution” to change the criminal justice system and stop reoffending has yet to come to pass.
One social enterprise, however, is leading the way in giving prisoners a second chance. The Clink Charity uses the power of food to help offenders begin building a new life, reducing the chance of reoffending happening upon release.
The Clink has six training facilities based around kitchens, restaurants and the growing of food at prisons across England and Wales.
It now has plans to operate 20 separate training facilities by the end of 2020. The plan will see more than 1,000 prisoners and ex-prisoners trained and given the opportunity of gainful employment each year.
Working with Her Majesty’s Prison Service, the social enterprise is currently training up to 160 prisoners a day, each one working 40 hours per week whilst heading towards accredited NVQ qualifications in Food Preparation, Food Service and Food Hygiene.
There are four restaurants across the prison estate, while the Clink Gardens project sees female offenders at HMP Send grow and harvest fresh produce for use in the restaurants.
