Ben's Key to a brighter future

The greeting is as warm as any you could expect from the many coffee shops on Gloucester Road. But there's more to it for Key Café supervisor Ben.

“It means a lot to me working here - I enjoy meeting people. Otherwise I would probably be re-offending and back in prison”, he says.

Ben is among the former inmates at Horfield jail being helped back into society and work through the Key Café, which opened last April in the Ministry of Justice building fronting the prison complex.

Serving bread and cakes made inside the prison – motto: Food With Conviction – it’s part of an ambitious scheme to support offenders who might otherwise return to chaotic and criminal lifestyles.

Ben says: “I’ve had a lot of help to get here, and now I’m in a position where I can mentor other ex-prisoners and help them back into life outside. They understand me as I’ve also been inside”.

The café is run by the charity The Key Unlock Potential, set up in 2019 and headed by Suzanne Thompson. It was a natural progression from her work with The Restore Trust which she set up in 2009 to bridge the gap between crime and barriers to employment. Suzanne’s own backstory gives clues to her drive.

She says: “I left school at 15 with no qualifications and ended up as a single mother living in a flat in Easton at a time when single mums were being blamed for a lot of faults in society.

“I saw a career advisor who persuaded me to take a qualification in social work. It goes to show you just can’t write people off”.

Suzanne now has more than 25 years of experience in criminal justice work, with The Restore Trust now occupying three houses on Longmead Avenue, just around the corner from the Key Café. The trust has expanded its reach to also support disadvantaged people outside prison through a network of partnerships with industry and community groups.

With the cost of housing prisoners running at more than £50,000 per head annually, Suzanne says it makes sense to put more effort into preventing re-offending when inmates are released.

“With the Key Café we’ve had such brilliant support from the local community. They’re know they’re backing something with a mission”, she says.