Prison Food, Home Delivered: Here’s How A Jail In Chandigarh Is Helping Inmates Rebuild Their Lives As Chefs

In a first, a jail in India is cashing in on the trend of online food-ordering and delivery. Burail Jail in Chandigarh now takes orders and delivers them home, reports Tribune.

All you need to do is visit the website and order samosas, gulab jamuns, sandwiches or other items, which will be delivered to you by the jail staff. The menu has a wide variety to offer and the prices are low. The report quotes the IG (Prisons) as saying that the business is good and it will pick up. All food items on sale are prepared by trained inmates under expert supervision. There is also a jail canteen where these food items can be bought from, and plans are in the offing for an exclusive outlet in Sector 22 in the city.

Though online delivery is a new foray, the practice of getting food items made by prisoners and then sold for a profit has been around for some time, and many prisons have been doing it across the country.

In Tihar Jail, a bakery was started in the 1990s by high-profile police officer, Kiran Bedi and the initiative was turned into a brand – “TJ’s” – by the next director general of the jail, Ajay Aggarwal. Business Today had carried a detailed story some years ago on how the effort that had started out as a bread-making venture, had turned into a brand with a diverse product portfolio, making bread, mustard oil, pickles, soap, paper items and also apparel, furniture, blankets and more. And supplying them through their stalls, and in government offices, in the Parliament House – and even tying up with Reliance Fresh and other retail outlets.

This article in The Better India informs us of an initiative by the Kerala police in certain jails where delicious, inexpensive food and bakery items are cooked by inmates and sold through cafeterias and takeaway stands.

Many such work initiatives have been on across jails in the country. They are meant as schooling exercise for inmates, teaching them skills so they can find jobs after leaving prison. They keep them busy and motivated, and give them a chance to stay on track after they leave prison, rather than lapse into a life of crime again. The side product is crores of rupees worth revenue generated for the jails.