Pete spoke to us recently about his work at Redemption Roasters, a company who supply their 5 coffee shops in London, and over 100 wholesale clients, with their coffee roasted in Aylesbury Prison. Redemption offers barista training courses in prison-based academies, providing those leaving the system with directly employable skills.
What is your role?
I work as a Barista Trainer for Redemption Coffee Roasters, a specialty coffee company who believe we can reduce reoffending through coffee. As well as running five coffee shops in central London, we operate 9 prison training academies in adult men’s and young offenders prisons, alongside our roastery in HMPYOI Aylesbury. I run our training academy in HMP High Down, a category B men's prison.
What is your favourite bit about the job?
Getting to know the guys on our courses, we train for 6 hours a day for 3-4 weeks so we really spend a lot of time with the men we work with. Working in a prison environment can be incredibly challenging, but the majority of the time we work with people who are keen to engage in classes and are working hard to make positive changes in their lives.
How did you get into the industry?
I moved to East London with my wife in 2013, and needed a job, I got a job at Kahaila on Brick Lane and ended up staying there on and off for 5 years working as a barista, head of coffee, and cafe manager. Coffee caught my attention as a product with much more complexity than I had ever imagined, but also as a booming industry with the potential for massive social impact through the supply chain.
Why do you think it's important for projects like this to run in prisons?
Prison can be a very hopeless place, I’m regularly told by men I work with that the biggest challenges they face are boredom when inside, and being able to break cycles of criminal activity when they are released. Projects like Essence and Redemption both aim to address both of these issues, through engaging courses with real employment outcomes.
What do you think is the biggest need in the criminal-justice system, and how would you address it if you could?
Too often the criminal justice system seems to be set up to punish offenders instead of rehabilitate and reintegrate them. Innovative courses, people who care about reform and more use of restorative justice are all things I think are desperately needed.