Appetising, delicious food served up to prisoners? It works for the Nordic countries

‘In the UK, prisons like HMP Brixton are still the exception.’ Prisoners work in the kitchen at the Clink restaurant inside Brixton prison, south London. Photograph: Justin Tallis/AFP/Getty Images

I spent three weeks visiting prisons across Scandinavia to find out how they feed their prisoners. You may ask why any of us should be concerned with what people in prison eat. But research suggests that good nutrition not only improves wellbeing, security and safety in prisons, it may have an effect on rehabilitation and keep people from returning to prison.

So does a region with one of the lowest reoffending rates in the world – only about 30% of Nordic prisoners end up back inside within two years – and a humane approach to incarceration treat prison food differently from countries with higher recidivism and a more punitive culture? As the founder of a charity dedicated to improving prison food in the UK, I wanted to find out.