Café 16 is our inside prison project designed to provide training and qualifications while Oswinners are serving a sentence. The ain is employment in the catering industry on release. Our Cafe16 initiative seeks to establish Cafés managed by the Oswin Project and staffed by ex-offenders. The first of these, in HMP Northumberland, opened in March 2020.
The café is run by a Manager and Assistant Manager, with the rest of the team currently serving sentences within the prison. The team benefit from hands on experience, mentoring and support, as well as training and qualifications in catering, baking, cleaning, and front of house operations. Despite the challenges posed by COVID, the Café remained operational as a takeaway service. Those on the programme have provided extremely positive feedback, reporting increases in self-confidence, perceptions of their own competence, and a growing optimism about their life after prison.
