Food as rehabilitation

Food behind bars is not intended to be a Michelin-starred affair. But prison food reformers claim some of it is so bad that it could be hampering the rehabilitation of inmates. Nutritious and tasty meals, they argue, can improve the physical and mental health of those serving prison sentences and therefore cut reoffending rates. And food skills; like cookery, baking and farming, could help in the rehabilitation process too. In this programme, Ruth Alexander speaks to three people with detailed knowledge of food in prison environments to explore the good, the bad and the ugly of eating in incarceration, and the power of food. Ruth speaks to Alex Busansky, head of research centre Impact Justice; Lucy Vincent, founder of the charity Food Behind Bars; and ex-offender, now consultant on prison reform, Sophie Barton-Hawkins. If you would like to get in touch with the show, please email: [email protected] (Picture: Prisoner harvests a cabbage grown on prison land. Credit: Getty/BBC)Producer: Elisabeth Mahy