Prison Canteen
Prison Canteen is like the in house shop where the prisoner can order items such as vapes, biscuits, toiletories, stationary, snacks, crisps, drinks and more.
The prison canteen sheet normally comes round once a week or some prisons that have a computer kioskk system allow you to order your canteen electronically.
The prison canteen is usually fulfilled by DHL and aided by prisoners who will pick and pack the orders. It comes once a week and you have to put your orders in a week in advance. Prison phone credit is also usually ordered at the same time onthe canteen sheet or through the kiosk.
How is the prison canteen delivered? Once arrived at the prison, the orderly or selected trusted prisoners will work to delivery the canteen to the right person and the right cell. The prison officer will then open the cell, put in the order, get the prison to sign that they have received it and then move on to the next cell.
Prisoners are usually locked up whilst the canteen delivery is going on to stop items going missing.
Due to the nature of the vast orders, prisoners picking and packing, items going missing from your order isnt rare and regularly youd get charged for an item but it wouldnt be in the delivery
Prison Canteen Delivery
The prison canteen items are usually heat sealed in clear bags with a receipt, prison name, prison number and cell location. If you move cell between canteen deliveries it can be an absolute nightmare to locate your canteen delivery as it gets delivered to your old cell, some people steel it or it goes back into the prison officers office and then eventually and if youre lucky, find its way to you or returned back to DHL.
Where is the Prison Canteen packed and warehouse? Some prisons have their own in house DHL such as Ford Prison, they are then distributed by DHL to the prisons.
How much money do DHL make from the canteen?
DHL fulfil 66,000 orders weekly from over 88,000 prisoners. The company employ over 520 prisoners to help with the fulfilment of the prison canteen orders. DHL have just won another contract for them to keep doing the prison canteen orders until 2027 and this netted them £375million!
What can you buy on the prison canteen?
The prison canteen is overly priced but is a lifeline for those in prison and give you something to look forward to each week. You can buy biscuits, chocolates, birthday cards, squash, ketchup, brownsauce, salt, vinegar, vapes, pasta, tuna and more. Ladbible managed to get hold of a canteen sheet which shows the items available on the canteen sheet: You can view the article HERE
Prison Canteen Is Currency
With no money been traded in prison, prison canteen is used as a form of currency. For example, if you want your haircut by a prison barber, they may charge 2 tins of tuna or similar. So you order on the canteen and next week pay for your haircut. This is used daily to trade different items inside the prison
