FIVE club members joined SI Reigate and Banstead and other clubs in the region to have lunch at The Clink Restaurant at HMP High Down in Sutton, Surrey. The restaurant is run by the Clink Charity and gives prisoners the opportunity to learn skills to enable them to work in the hospitality industry on their release.
As HMP High Down is a closed prison there are strict security checks and strict instructions about what can’t be taken into the prison, ranging from the obvious such as mobile phones and knives to the more obscure such as paracetamol and hand wash.
Having been escorted from reception to the restaurant, guests were offered non-alcoholic bucks fizz followed by a splendid three-course meal of deep fried camembert, pork cooked three ways and a delicious sponge flan and homemade vanilla custard. Prisoners prepare and cook the food in an open plan kitchen enabling diners to watch food preparation and prisoners then serve the meal. Clink Charity carry out training with a very small number of paid staff.
Lunch was followed by a talk by Governor Peter Dawson about life in prison and rehabilitation for life outside. There was then a lively question and answer session. Peter explained that the issue of re-offending has become one of the most pressing challenges facing society. Forty nine per cent of prisoners released in the UK re-offend within the first year and for those who serve sentences of less than12 months this increases to 61 per cent. The aim of the Clink Charity is to reduce re-offending rates by training and placing graduates when released into the hospitality industry. So far, 85 prisoners have been or are currently being trained in The Clink Restaurant and 25 have successfully been released into full time employment.
Everyone enjoyed the whole experience in what was a conventional restaurant in a very unconventional setting.