Fine Cell Work

I have recently been given an article assignment for college where I should choose and article that interests me and engage in a formal discussion with my peers in my class. When browsing the Selvedgewebsite for some inspiration for this I descovered a post on a charity called Fine Cell Work. I immediately checked out their  website and was pleasantly surprised!

Fine Cell Work is a charity that works with prisoners in their cells, teaching them embroidery skills to make textile pieces and allowing them to earn a small amount of the profit the goods make. The prisoners themselves produce some beautiful work, including quilts, cushions, bags, gifts and kits. Although some people may be strongly against the idea of prisoners working for money, I think it is a brilliant idea as it gives the prisoners something constructive to do instead of sitting around wasting time, also it has been stated that the sewing itself is very therapeutic for them and therefore can help to calm down some of the more aggressive prisoners. Another benefit for them is as they are earning a small fortune whilst they are in jail they are able to save this for when they come out or send it to family for Birthday's and Christmas etc. They produce some really pretty and delicate work, so you'll probably be surprised to hear that 80% of the workers are male. The charity's work has been so successful that their work  has been exhibited for the V & A and commissioned by English Heritage, furthermore they have produced work for some top interior designers such as Jasper Conrad.

The charity is run by volunteers, which is something that I may be interested in as it would be some great work experience and I discovered that they also offer internships which would also be great. I will be sure to research more into this and work on my embroidery skills.

I am very interested to see what my peers opinions are on this topic and think that it will be a good one to discuss together.

My chosen article am am going to discuss ishttp://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/specials/times_appeal/article6968001.ece.

I will post the results of my discussion on here and for anyone who is as interested as me in Fine Cell Work  their website is www.finecellwork.co.uk.