Westville Prison launches bakery

THE opening of the Durban Management Area Bakery at Westville Prison was for the benefit of taxpayers and the rehabilitation of inmates.

- THOBEKA NGEMA [e-mail]

This was said by Correctional Services Minister Dr Pieter Groenewald when he attended the opening of the bakery yesterday.

“This bakery can produce 3 840 loaves of bread daily. The rate is about 480 loaves of bread an hour,’ Groenewald said.

“We have almost 50 inmates involved in the bakery, meaning they get a pre-training, and then they also rotate to ensure that they also are practically part of the process.”

Groenewald said this is part of rehabilitation, ensuring that when the inmates leave Correctional Services facilities, they are successfully reintegrated into society.

“When they finish here, they will receive a certificate to say that, and this is part of the skills they have learned in Correctional Services, so it’s a dual benefit for the inmates on the one side and the taxpayers on the other side,” Groenewald said.

“We will save more or less R3 million annually with this bakery.