Baristas behind bars

British program sees lattes served up to prisoners

Baristas behind bars
Redemption Roasters trains 10 inmates at a time with coffee roasting, customer service and food-hygeine skills for up to one year. Olesya-Vovk/Shutterstock

ENGLAND — The whirr of an industrial-scale coffee roaster and sharp hiss of a milk frother greets “customers” each morning inside one of Britain’s toughest young offenders prisons.

Staffed by prisoners aged 18 to 21, the Redemption Roasters café inside Aylesbury prison trains inmates with specialty coffee skills in a bid to help them find jobs upon release, according to the Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The small-scale coffee company is part of a growing number of businesses globally that aim to have a positive social impact while turning a profit.

With about 4,000 young men in prison across the country in 2018, helping them find meaningful and stable work post-custody is an imperative, said the justice ministry.

Aylesbury prison holds more than 400 of these young men, with nearly 70 serving a life sentence, said prison governor Laura Sapwell.

Redemption Roasters trains 10 inmates at a time with coffee roasting, customer service and food-hygeine skills for up to one year.

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