In response to “growing demand”, Freedom Bakery will launch a second crowdfunding campaign on 7 April. 

Freedom Bakery is a Glasgow-based social enterprise that gives training and employment to recently released ex-offenders.

Artisan breads and cakes are being baked and sold to the public by a group of prisoners at HMP Low Moss, near Bishopbriggs. This follows similar schemes in London and Italy, whereby offenders bake and create pastries during their sentence.

Matt Fountain, a self-taught baker, launched the initiative in an attempt to offer inmates employment, after finding himself disheartened by the high levels of reoffending in Scotland – the reconviction rate there is 64%. 

Due to “growing demand”, there are now plans afoot for a second bakery in the city.

More opportunities

Freedom said: “We need to establish a second bakery in Glasgow, so that we can provide more opportunities for the people we’re working with, ultimately with short-term employment opportunities as they leave prison.

“It will also allow us to trade more broadly, meeting increasing demand so that we can reinvest our profits back into the people we were established for. The plans for our new bakery mean we will be able to engage with more groups in society, provide classes for the public and increase our service in the community.”

The group aims to raise £15,000 towards the creation of the second bakery. And it said there would be “exciting rewards” for those who contribute.

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