Inside the main prison kitchen, Food Behind Bars will deliver its Prison Food Education Programme working with catering teams to enhance menus, improve scratch cooking and reduce reliance on processed foods.
The catering staff will receive practical and digital training, alongside hands-on support to develop seasonal menus centred on whole ingredients - including produce grown on site. Prisoners will also be consulted through food forums and representative roles, ensuring their voices shape the food they eat.
By strengthening food quality, encouraging dining hall use and embedding fresh ingredients into daily meals, the project aims to improve nutrition, wellbeing and dignity across the prison.
The walled garden will supply fresh, seasonal produce directly to the prison kitchen, reducing waste and strengthening sustainability. Prisoners and staff will work together to regenerate the space - building skills, restoring biodiversity and creating meaningful opportunities for engagement.
Lucy Vincent, chief executive and founder of Food Behind Bars, said: “This is without doubt our most ambitious project to date. It shows what’s possible when food is taken seriously in prison. We have a real opportunity to make food a key driver of rehabilitation and better health and wellbeing in prison, as well as improving the landscape and the local food system for years to come. I can’t wait get started.”
Food Behind Bars is the UK’s only organisation dedicated to transforming prison food. Over the past nine years it has worked in 14 prisons, developed more than 150 recipes, and campaigned for national change, characterised by a recent change in prison food policy which came into legislation in February 2026.