Goods made by prisoners to be sold from on-site outlet
WOODEN benches, picnic tables and planters made by Guernsey prisoners can now be bought directly from a new outlet created on the prison site at Les Nicolles.
There will also be craft items and samples of produce, all created and grown within the grounds of the prison, plus pickles and other items from the prison kitchen.
The initiative is the result of the charity Clip – Creative Learning in Prison – which has worked with staff of Les Nicolles to give prisoners an outlet for work that they would be creating anyway as part of the qualifications they can take.
The new outlet has been funded by the Lions Club of Guernsey and the Lloyds Bank Foundation, which provided initial funding to the charity when it was set up in 2013.
Head of learning, skills and regimes Dave Le Feuvre said that one of the ideas of Clip was to create ‘social inclusion rather than social exclusion’.
Staff and charity representatives were joined by the Bailiff, Sir Richard Collas, Jurats of the Royal Court and representatives of Home Affairs for the official opening of the outlet by David Hodgetts on behalf of the Lloyds Foundation.
‘We are extremely proud to support the work of Clip and the excellent work done towards prisoners’ rehabilitation,’ he said, adding that the foundation would continue its association with the charity.
He was joined in cutting the ribbon by Lions Club president Dave Marquand.
Clip chairman Iain Stokes said that the charity had built up momentum in the last 12 to 18 months to get to the point where the outlet could be opened. ‘What we really want to do is generate an income stream so that we can become a self-funding charity,’ he said.
Clip committee member Andrew Ozanne said that the wooden building for the outlet had been provided by Stan Brouard Ltd at cost price.
Prison governor David Matthews said that an increase in orders for wooden furniture coming from islanders had led to the outlet being opened.
He said the money made would be invested back into the activities undertaken by prisoners, which meant that while the basics such as numeracy and literacy would be funded by the States, other things like drama and photography could be funded by money raised by Clip.
n The prison outlet will be open from 10am to 1pm every Saturday but more volunteers are being sought to enable it to open on Sundays too. Anyone interested is asked to contact the prison on 248376.
