'Selling items made by prisoners helps their rehabilitation'

A tour of a prison by managers of a large shopping complex in December has led to the creation of a pop-up stall to sell items made by inmates.

Male prisoners at HMP Five Wells, Wellingborough, Northamptonshire, said they had learned new skills to create products such as wooden toy houses, garden items and hats, which since April have regularly been sold at a market stall at Rushden Lakes shopping centre.

All proceeds of the sales are reinvested in the prison and the initiative has been praised by prison staff and inmates, with some of the men saying it has given them a sense of "pride" and also valuable skills that have led to job offers outside of prison.

So what difference has creating and selling bird boxes, toys and ceramics made to those serving time in prison?

Dave - the BBC has agreed to change the names of prisoners - works in the textiles department at HMP Five Wells, a £253m Category C prison for adult males which opened in 2022.

The site is privately run by G4S and currently houses about 1,750 men across seven accommodation blocks.

The textiles department makes bags from recycled jeans, repairs clothes for staff and prisoners and makes toys, hats and key-rings, which are then sold from a fortnightly stall at the shopping complex, Rushden Lakes.

"I come to the job two years ago, no experience, I've worked my way up. I've had to interview for each position, so we're also learning the interviewing skills.

"There's a lot of different skills they're learning," Dave says.

He feels the products that the department makes shows "we actually still can do good".

"A lot of the lads, they've come in because they haven't had chances in life, but then they've been given this chance of a great opportunity of learning a skill that you wouldn't necessarily think about.

"Some have managed to go on to a job on the outside and that's totally changed their life, so hopefully they won't reoffend," Dave says.

He adds that he understands people may question the inmates working while serving their sentences.

"There's a lot of stigma around the benefits we do get [in prison], but you only get benefits by working hard and working within the rules. [If] you break the rules you lose and everything.

"Everyone's done whatever they've done to get in here, forget about that try and start again.

"It's the only way that you're actually going to change," he says.

Dave adds: "If you're just stuck in a cell and you're not actually working on anything, you're just that same person, you're going around in that same circle, whereas here, they're giving you the opportunity to expand your horizons."

He added there are opportunities for inmates in prison, if they are willing to take them.

"If you're not, you're going to be that same person stuck in the same cycle.

"It's people that want to change, want to do well that we're going to promote," he adds.

Wayne, another inmate at the HMP Five Wells, works for a sign shop at the prison's entrance, which prints clothes and signage and creates embroidery products to be sold to the public.

He says he now has a job on release due to the experience he has gained from working for the shop.

"It's a good place if you want to learn skills. You feel a sense of rehabilitation and purpose, even though you're within the prison," he says.

He said people need to have open minds about how people can grow in prison.

"If you're going to keep everyone on a negative then there ain't going to be room for rehabilitation.

"I've learned the skill, I've got a job, and I'm sure that's better than going out to absolutely nothing and living a bad life.

"I believe without a job like this I would just be withering away and really struggling," Wayne says.

HMP Five Wells' carpentry workshop is used by about 23 inmates, including Karl, who manages the space.

The workshop produces "high-spec" wooden goods, such as bird boxes, dolls houses and garden items.

Karl says the shop was "fantastic" and had improved the confidence and mental health of some of the inmates.

Knowing items are being sold to the public "gives you a proper ego boost", he says.

"The reaction from people is absolutely phenomenal. I want to go out and pursue this as a career when I get out," he adds.

Nichola Joynes, the prison's carpentry workshop instructor, said: "[Selling the products] has been an opportunity for us to showcase the work we do here, not just in terms of the products that we produce, but also the rehabilitation aspect of the work and getting people ready to be released."

She said the prisoners see it as a "positive" and the feedback she gets from shoppers is "very positive, it's almost like a bit of a novelty thing".

"They particularly like the ceramics when they've got stamps underneath saying they're from Five Wells.

"A lot of people are encouraged that [prisoners] are working, they're making use of their time and learning skills, so they're very supportive," she adds.

Peter Small, the director of HMP Five Wells, said selling the products was "a great initiative" with all funds from sales going back into the prison workshops.

"Prisoners have a range of skills that are often unseen and I think it adds an extra sense of purpose for prisoners to know that a lot of what they make, which is of really good quality, is worthy of being displayed and in some cases purchased by members of the general public," he says.

Following an inspection in January 2024, a HM Inspectorate of Prisons report said drugs remained a problem at HMP Five Wells and the "quality of education, skills and work was not good enough".

In a December 2024 the prison said its new director was providing clear direction and more "prisoners were now engaged in purposeful activity".

Small adds: "I'm very proud of the fact that we have still quite a new staffing group who have overcome a series of challenges and created what I think to be an excellent establishment with extremely good relationships with our prisoners."

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