Were it not for the high barred gates and stringent security checks, there would be nothing to suggest that The Clink was anything other than an ordinary restaurant. The smartly dressed, professionally mannered chefs and waiters running the high-end eatery in HMP High Down prison in Surrey, give no clue that all are serving or former prisoners.
The restaurant, borrowing the name of Britain’s most notorious prison, was set up early in 2009 by the prison’s catering services manager, Chef Alberto Crisci, as a non-profit business. Prisoners cook and serve up to 1,000 meals a day to staff, visitors and commercial customers, often working nine hours a day on weekdays. Every prisoner in the restaurant’s kitchens is working towards a qualification in catering or hygiene, while the furniture is designed and made by inmates. The aim is to give inmates a real chance of finding employment when they come out, says Crisci. “I want people who eat at The Clink to ask, ‘Have you got anyone coming out soon?’ I want people to hire these guys, not ignore them because of their criminal record.”
While inmates have long been involved in prison workshop the rehabilitative power of running a business is even more powerful, says Andrew Neilson, assistant director or public affairs and policy at the Howard League for Penal Reform, the prison reform charity. “Working in a social enterprise transforms prison from being lounging around in a cell into doing something positive,” he says. “In particular, working with outside clients you to have to get used to coming up with ideas that are rejected, dealing with the whims of clients. It’s those skills that are particularly valuable.”
On their release ex offenders face a litany of problems around employment, housing, health and relationships. The opportunity to learn new skills in a business setting can make the difference between finding employment – and financial stability – on release, or returning to crime. Andy Keen-Downs, the director of the Prison Advice and Care Trust (PACT) says: “If you can give someone as real as possible an experience of employment while they’re in prison then you vastly increase their chances of finding and coping once they’re out.”
The charity runs a social enterprise called PACT Lunch in 11 prisons across the UK, selling sandwiches and healthy snacks in prison visitors’ centres. It aims to make a profit which is then reinvested and uses a combination of volunteers, paid staff, and in two of the prisons, serving prisoners – although bureaucratic difficulties mean it is not able to employ prisoners in every prison. “The climate means it is difficult for prisons to authorise prisoners to do this kind of work. Working in the visitors area they have contact with the outside world, which can spark security concerns,” Keen-Downs explains.
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Despite the popularity of social enterprise generally, in prisons it is struggling. In 2005, The Howard League for Penal Reform ran a graphic design studio, Barbed, in Coldingley prison. Prisoners ran the studio as a proper business, and controversially were paid a proper, although modest, wage. “The idea we were piloting, was a proper job with remuneration that to some extent reflected the job they were doing - not just £6 a week to stuff envelopes,” Neilson says. “We believe that equips people for life outside far better than the current system.”
In December 2008 Barbed was forced to close down because of the difficulties of operating in a prison setting. “The prison wouldn’t let us operate proper hours. They would transfer people out of prison without telling us. It’s very difficult to operate a business in those kinds of conditions because you can’t plan anything,” Neilson explains.
Keen-Downs says that he would like to see prisons allowed more flexibility to take risks on innovative social enterprise projects. “Over the past few years the opportunities for social enterprise in prisons have diminished a lot, due to cost cutting. A lot of projects have fallen by the wayside due to budget cuts, overcrowding and the pressures on prison governors,” he says.
There are small signs that the government is warming to the power of doing business in prison. In 2006, a government project, Inside Innovation, was set up to foster social enterprise in jails. Project officials work with staff at HMP Downview and HMP Wandsworth on projects including a translation service run by foreign national prisoners working alongside British to translate prison materials, and a healthcare website for prisoners.
Cross party interest in the subject is also growing, says Neilson. “We’ve been in talks with the Conservatives who are very interested in the concept of real work in prison. They can see that it would go down well with the public, as well as being very positive for the individuals involved.”