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Restaurants within prisons

I read an article this week about kitchens within restaurants situated in prisons. I have personally never been to any of these restaurants but feel it’s a good idea. It has shown that by prisoners working in restaurants and in kitchens there has been less re-offending. This could be due to the reason that they are learning a skill so it can be easier to find work. Also working in the kitchen can bring a strong sense of community to someone in what must be a very difficult and lonely part of your life. Gordon Ramsay did a channel 4 series on this about 7 years ago so I’m sure a lot has changed since then but re-offending at the time dropped from 47% to 10% when having been trained in The Clink restaurant. It seems it’s a good discipline for prisoners to learn and to work and train in the restaurant prisoners need to be within 6-18 months of the end of their sentence and obviously have the right temperament. The prisoners work up to 40 hours a week and while they are there they are working towards City & Guilds qualifications. The Clink, which is a charity has collaborated with about 120 different companies that will take on graduates from the restaurant into jobs. After they are placed a mentor will then visit the graduate for the first 6 months of the placement.

What are your thoughts on previous offenders working in the hospitality trade?

https://www.theguardian.com/food/2019/aug/08/in-clink-prison-restaurants-there-is-fellowship-in-food?fbclid=IwAR3x0O3dExDqEL8jjumhYindLVxqqEwCKmtPkIc88C5jU4awM00k2jhClr4

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