The above pillow is part of Fine Cell Work’s newer collection of pillows.

Currently Fine Cell Work is in need of volunteers in Yorkshire. If you know anyone in Yorkshire that might be interested, please pass this along or direct them to the Fine Cell Work website.

WE NEED VOLUNTEERS!

Fine Cell Work is very eager to hear from any keen stitchers who might be interested in chatting to us about the possibility of going in to HMP Wakefield in Yorkshire to teach our group of male stitchers there. The group is well established and is full of very able men but currently no teacher is visiting and they would really benefit from a weekly or fortnightly visit from anyone who is familiar with stitching, either tapestry or surface embroidery – or even better both!

We are looking for 2 to 3 volunteers to go into the prison together and would need people who could commit to at least a year on a weekly or fortnightly basis. This is a great opportunity for anyone who is a keen needleworker to help foster and encourage our stitchers in a prison where the group has been established for some time but is now needing more regular contact from a visiting tutor.

If you are interested in helping us at HMP Wakefield then please phone the office and chat to Kim Nightingale on 0207 931 8973 or email kim@finecellwork.co.uk

And that’s only one example of programs that allow inmates to dually gain from the therapeutic process of craft and the practical product to sell. Here are just a few more examples:

A Stitch Doing Time
Our Children’s Place (NC)
Embroidery at Cuddalore Prison
No offense: Crochet Behind Bars
Hiland inmates restitch their lives
Shakopee Women’s Prison Project
Knitting Behind Bars (via Interweave)
Lithuanian prisoners knit for poor Afghans
Inmates learn social skills through knitting
Lebanese inmates stitch their way out of prison
From scraps of prison cloth a miniature world grows
Female convicts knitting winter clothes for Afghans
Stitching in Cells: Teaching prison inmates the art of quilt making
Lady Anne Tree: Meet the aristocrat who’s got the prisoners in stitches
Mosaic Liberation (post about Carrie Reichardt from Radical Cross Stitch)

And this is just the small list… Have any links for specific charities doing this sort of work? Send ’em on!