Pizza, not porridge
LAGS GET FOOD DELIVERIES TO CELL
LAGS already lardy from lockdown can now scoff fast food brought directly to their cell doors in a Deliveroo-style scheme.
Inmates can order burgers, chips and pizzas via a delivery service dubbed “Deliver-screw”.
Orders are placed on electronic terminals dotted around the prison.
Offenders pay using cards linked to an electronic account holding funds they make from prison work and gifts from outside.
Goodies are then dropped off at lags’ “home addresses” just like those on the outside.
A source said: “The men say its just like Deliveroo or Just Eat. But it is probably not the best news for their waistlines, especially with so much exercise time lost due to Covid.”
The service has been launched at HMP Warren Hill in Suffolk, a category C jail – like the fictional HMP Slade in classic sitcom Porridge.
But characters Norman Fletcher and Lennie Godber, played by Ronnie Barker and Richard Beckinsale, would struggle to see many similarities. One prison worker said: “All the cells at Warren Hill are single with TVS, so now prisoners can lie back and order up a pizza and cake while they tune into the latest soap. If ever there was a case for saying a prison is like a hotel, this is it.”
The food for the scheme is rustled up at the kitchens of neighbouring HMP Hollesley Bay, then delivered to Warren Hill. The service, which also offers Pot Noodles, sausage rolls and crisps, comes after many inmates put on weight.
The pandemic left thousands confined to their cells.
However, Warren Hill is giving those who want to burn the calories new ways to exercise. A boules green and mini golf course is being installed at the site, in an area reserved for over-55s.
In March a survey of 2,000 cons by a healthcare firm found many complaining of putting on weight and losing muscle. One told the study: “I’ve been confined to a cell for 23 hours 45 minutes [per day] for four months.”
A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “HMP Warren Hill is the safest category C prison in the country, giving prisoners the best chance of turning their lives around.”