Boom in sales of Taoyuan prison cuisine

Appreciated for the quality and price, the prisoners' food is flying off the shelves. In 2015 revenues reached $ 15 million. The program, which started in 2006, involves hundreds of women in the country's 50 prisons.

Taoyuan (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Pineapple cakes, hazelnut crumble and homemade snacks. These are the products produced for 10 years by the inmates of the Taoyuan Women's Prison (municipalities of Taipei, in the north of the country). Hundreds of women sentenced to imprisonment are employed in the burgeoning food industry. Their products are very popular and sales revenues climb every year.

After a series of food scandals, the Taiwanese market appreciates the quality of the prison products - which undergo a lengthy control process - and their slightly lower price compared to supermarkets. In 2015, the proceeds from the sale of sweet and savory foods earned 15 million dollars. The money is reinvested in the compensation of victims of crimes and improving facilities that house prisoners.

The women workers also earn a small monthly salary (about $ 100). Prisoners whose sentence is due to expire or who are on probation take precedence in the culinary program, but prisoners with a long sentence may also request to take part. Many of them did not know how to cook before enrolling: "I did not even know how to use a kitchen knife - says Chen, 39 years - because my mother always cooked for me."

Starting in 2006, the program aimed to teach some manual skills to prisoners and generate money for the prison. Now it has turned into a business that involves 50 prisons across the country.

The prisoners produce about 300 types of products that can be ordered (by phone or fax) by the people. Customers who want to can pick up their order at the prison.

Wang Lung-feng is a businesswoman who sells food at fairs in the country: "I have been selling the prisoner’s products for more than a year - she says - and I do so because they are organic, good quality and cheap. I also convinced my friends to buy food from them".

• taiwan
• economy
• penitentiaries
• food
• sweet
• prison