During our second week in London, we took a field trip to the Clink. The Clink is a restaurant in Brixton, a diverse neighborhood in London, that is set in a prison. It is the first star restaurant situated within working prisons, and all food is prepped and served by the people in prison. I had never been to a prison before this moment so I was excited to see what is was like and to compare and contrast the US prisons from the UK prisons. Before we arrived, we were aware that there was a dress code as we were entering a male prison. Furthermore we had to keep all of our belongings in a locker and go through intense security before making it to the restaurant. The first thing I noticed was that this prison was very old looking, the builkdings were old brick buildings, it was not just a tall concrete tower with one small window per room like the prisons in the US.

The prisoners working in the restaurant are developing important skills in the restaurant industry so they are able to get jobs upon release, you could tell that they were all very driven and take their job seriously, with goals to improve and have opportunities when they are able to leave. The charity supports the students and Clink graduates to help them secure accommodation upon release. This offers them a real chance to return to the community with the ability to turn their lives around which will cut crime and improve public safety. Being in this prison was such “wow” moment because I was able to see how much more impact comes from a rehabilitation and training approach in prison rather than what we do in the US which is often give up on those who are sent to jail. The men that we were talking to were very honest about their prison experience saying that hey hate it there, but they would much rather be there than in the United States. Many of them didn’t have the worry of not being bale to make a life for themselves after prison because they are actively working for that. For example, one server/ prisoner was telling us that in two months the will be eligible for an open prison in which he is able to leave the prison and work during the day. This shocked all of this because we were all students interested in prison reform and criminal legal system reform, to see it actually work gave us hope and inspired all of us.

This moment of seeing prison reform in action, seeing it working, and meeting products of an effective prison system became a learning opportunity as it gave us hope that change is possible and for the better. Utilizing a system such as this helps combat crime rates and is a more humanizing approach to the prison system. Meeting people like this and having these experiences is important because when arguing for justice and reform, I am able to look back at my experience here and gain credibility.

My Wrongful Conviction Class