5 A STITCH WHILE DOING TIME

It was an awareness of the therapeutic powers of needlework that first gave social reformer Lady Anne Tree the idea of setting up an organisation to teach prisoners how to produce needlework. As a visitor to HMP Holloway in the 1960s, she was convinced of the benefits it could bring: ‘I noticed over the years what a terrible waste of time there was… and I got such a lot of fun out of embroidery,’ she said.

She also recognised the value of giving prisoners useful paid work. In 1997, after years of lobbying the Home O ce to change the law to allow prisoners to earn money while serving time, Fine Cell Work was born. Today, the organisation works with over 400 prisoners in 29 prisons across England, Scotland and Wales, providing training and paid work embroidering cushions, bags, pictures and quilts, which are then sold through its website and other outlets. In recent years, Fine Cell Work has been commissioned by English Heritage and the V&A, as well as creating this range of cushions with Pentreath & Hall.