We believe that food has the power to transform people’s lives.

We are a Registered Charity dedicated to transforming the food served in British prisons.

We work with prisons across England & Wales on the subject of food, to improve the lives of those eating it and support the people making it. Our aim is to positively impact the health and wellbeing of prisoners, by delivering practical food-based education, promoting healthy eating and designing exciting food and drink initiatives. We know that good food in prison can create a happier, healthier prison system, with rehabilitation at its heart. This is the backbone of what we do.

“The Food Behind Bars project helped me have an epiphany. I love food, so it felt like this was my chance. I was sceptical at first because I only had experience at home and not as much in a working kitchen, if you know what I mean. I never thought a little spice and a few ingredients could go such a long way. They didn’t just find me a job; they found me a team that took me in as their own.”

— Jamal, HMP Brixton

Our Projects

  • HMP Swinfen Hall

    A 2-year programme working across the grounds and kitchens of this Category C men's prison. The project involved building a kitchen garden that provided fresh ingredients to the prison kitchen and running a culinary training course for groups of men in the staff bistro.

  • Cooking From My Culture

    Cooking From My Culture is a cultural cooking programme designed for ethnic minority prisoners. It was piloted at HMP Bristol in May 2023 and will be delivered again at HMP Wealstun in November 2023. The programme is designed to give prisoners the opportunity to share, learn and bond through food that represents their cultural heritage. It also enables them to break down barriers with staff during a heritage potluck lunch at the end of the course.

  • Food 360

    Food 360 is our holistic food education programme, delivered in a variety of establishments including HMP Stafford, HMP Drake Hall and HMP Manchester. The aim of Food 360 is to influence, excite and inspire prisoners around food, allowing them to make healthier food choices and equipping them with skills to utilise during their sentence and beyond release. Food 360 takes the form of a practical programme of cooking classes that covers a variety of subjects, cuisines and ideas

  • HMP Wealstun

    We spent 12 months at HMP Wealstun developing and implementing new menus and recipes to help transform the food culture and improve the health and wellbeing of the population. We also launched an in-house bakery, Rise & Prove and created creating a 20-page Wellbeing Guide for every prisoner at Wealstun.

  • HMP East Sutton Park

    We are currently running the in-house butchery at HMP East Sutton Park, a women’s open prison in Kent. Since August 2022, our Butcher Trainer has been teaching groups of women the fundamentals of nose-to-tail butchery, using organic meat reared on the prison’s working farm. They produce professional products that are sold in the prison's farm shop and learn all the skills associated with becoming a professional butcher.

  • HMP Brixton

    Street Food Bosses is a street food incubator course delivered at HMP Brixton by FBB. The course gave prisoners the chance to develop their own street food business, supported by industry experts. At the end of the programme, they pitched their idea to three London street food markets and hosted a pop-up lunch event.

Why do we do it?

We believe that wholesome and delicious food has the power to equip prisoners with the increased knowledge, skills and wellbeing they need to help them achieve a good quality of life on the outside. More nutritious food can also help ease some of the chronic issues in British prisons: violence, mental heath and reoffending. Prison food has never received the level of attention and investment as food in other institutional settings. This is something we are determined to change.

  • Prison food varies greatly from each establishment. However, the average prison meal is often repetitive, uninspiring and lacking in the key nutrients required to equip prisoners with a balanced diet. Prison catering teams are under-resourced, understaffed and under pressure. They are producing and serving thousands of meals per day in a logistically-challenging environment that leaves little room for innovation or creativity. Many individuals are leaving prison with a poor relationship with food that has a negative impact on their future lives.

  • Prisons serve three meals per day on a budget of around £3 per head. In 2016, a report on prison food by HM Inspectorate of Prisons concluded that poor quality prison food was impacting everything from violence to behaviour, mental health and rehabilitation. However, increased nutrition amongst prisoners has been statistically proven to reduce violent offences by 37%. Research has shown that poor diet is linked to poor mental health - individuals classified as obese have a 55% higher risk of developing depression. It’s estimated that two thirds of the prison population suffer from mental health issues. Good food has the potential to change this.

  • Our prisons aren’t working. There are 88,000 prisoners in the UK - the highest on record. Overcrowding, understaffing and poor living conditions are widespread - 65% of prisons are holding more individuals than they were designed for. The health and wellbeing of prisoners is at a record low and self harm is at a record high. Poor quality food is exasperating the situation further. Prisons are under the spotlight like never before and a new approach is desperately needed.

Make a donation

There are plenty of ways you can get involved with Food Behind Bars and we are always looking for passionate people who share our vision.

Our work is reliant on funding. Without this support, we wouldn’t be able to deliver our groundbreaking work in prisons across England and Wales. We are a small, grassroots charity with big ambitions - there has never been a more important time to contribute to our mission. If you are an individual and would like to make a donation, you can do so online by visiting our fundraising platform Givey. If you would like to discuss a fundraising activity or event, make a regular donation or are an organisation who is interested in supporting us - drop us a line at info@foodbehindbars.co.uk.

We appreciate a donation of any size, big or small. Thank you for your support.