Gordon Behind Bars - Episode 1

First Broadcast: 
Tuesday 26 June 2012 at 21:00
Channel 4
One Potato Two Potato






Brixton Prison – hardly the most obvious place to start up a baking business.  Particularly when it’s the prisoners doing the baking.  

That’s exactly why I tuned into this brand new series, Gordon Behind Bars.  I’m not a huge Gordon Ramsay fan as I don’t particularly enjoy programmes that are 90% made up of bleeping noises,  but this time round, his mission intrigued me, not only because it was such a monumentous challenge, but also because I had no idea how society would receive it.

"My plan's pretty straight-forward: it's about getting them working, off their arse, and then working."

So far, so good…

"I'm gonna try and set up a business behind bars, getting the prisoners cooking on the inside to sell on the outside."

That’s where I see a downfall.  

I may just be shallow-minded, but are people really going to want to eat food that has been cooked by criminals?  Fair enough, Gordon will be managing the project, but he can’t watch over every single one of them whilst the baking is going on.  Are prisoners likely to have a grasp of health and safety regulations?

“They could spit in it, they could let it on the floor, they could do anything with it,” one member of the public states.

Even if, as society, we are prepared to consume food that has been prepared in prison by prisoners, is that really fair on food businesses that people have put a lot of work and money into?  Is it right of Gordon Ramsay to step in and create extra competition for these businesses?  After all, a lot less people would consider buying prison-made food at all if Gordon Ramsay were not fronting the campaign.

But I see where the benefits of Gordon’s mission lie.

"If there's one thing these guys have got on their side, it's time.”

People don’t care what prisoners get up to in their cells.  As long as they are not living in luxury, we couldn’t care less if they sit in their cell all day and do nothing or not.  In fact, we may see that as a fitting punishment.  

But it’s all about making money, to put something back into society.

"The taxpayer forks out £38 grand to keep each of Britains' 88,000 prisoners banged up, yet only 10% of them do any hard work."

Gordon says: "It just seems a complete waste. The amount of money we spend keeping those guys in there. It's costing us a fortune."

"In cash-strapped Britain, few offenders graft full-time to pay anything back."

This is where my support lies.  

So many of the prisoners featured in the programme have been in and out of prison their whole lives.  If the tax payer is paying so much for that kind of lifestyle, it is most definitely a waste of money.  

If these prisoners can make their time in prison more productive in order to make money for the outside world – fantastic!  If this kind of business were to be set up in every prison, it may also act as a deterrent for offenders and  might encourage people to try and make lives for themselves in the real world instead of spending it in prison, if they would be working whilst in there anyway.

In terms of the programme, what’s more entertaining than Gordon Ramsay forcing a bunch of tough criminals to make fairy cakes?

Favourite quote from the show:

"the ruthless criminals can't resist a little bit of glitter."

That's not a sentence you're likely to hear in any other programme!

I am highly looking forward to the upcoming episodes in the series and I am very intrigued to see how Gordon’s mission pans out.

Image from www.channel4.com/programmes/gordon-behind-bars