You might not want this lot climbing down your chimney – lags are hard at work being Santa’s helpers by producing Christmas goodies in jail.
Inmates at a string of prisons are coining it selling food, gifts and decorations for the festive season.
One jail has its own smokehouse, making treats such as kippers, bacon and smoked salmon. A local firm paid for it to be installed at HMP Haverigg in Cumbria, and prisoners get £28 a week to work there.
A farm shop at HMP Kirkham in Lancashire sells fresh veg, flowers and steak from rare-breed longhorn cattle. It also sells garden furniture and sheds made by lags paid about £15 a week.
HMP Erlestoke in Wiltshire sells jewellery boxes, garden chairs, wishing wells, planters and bird tables made by the handy prisoners. There is also fresh produce, including free-range eggs and Christmas cakes – part of a range dubbed Guilty Pleasures.
The Thyme Served shop at HMP Hatfield near Doncaster, South Yorks, has fruit, veg and flowers as well as walking sticks, aprons and garden furniture made by £15-a-week cons.
The women at Askham Grange jail near York sell spreads and pickles, as well as Christmas trees and wreaths, and also get £15 a week. The Clink restaurant outside Styal women’s jail in Cheshire is run by lags with help from a charity and is TripAdvisor’s top-rated restaurant in Wilmslow.
The Prison Service said money generated from the prison enterprises goes to fund other projects at individual jails and, when charities are involved in the enterprises, supporting offenders after they are released from jail.