Prisoners are doing Parkruns to keep fit behind bars

Doing a runner! 
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Prisoners are doing Parkruns at a cushy jail to keep fit while behind bars.

HMP Home House, a Category C jail, offers regular fitness sessions on Saturdays.

But bosses had to send up a drone to stop people using it as cover to lob contraband over the walls.

HMP Home House, pictured above, has offered inmates the chance to keep trim (Credit: Jam Press)

Inmates can also care for ducks, chickens, guinea pigs and tortoises in the therapeutic centre ward.

A petting zoo is set up for family visits, too.

There is also a bakery on site and prisoners can make brownies.

One of the lags also plays as a busker within the jail walls.

The Parkrun events were revealed in a recent report on the 1,179-capacity prison, in Stockton-on-Tees, Teesside.

It read: “The PE provision was good.

A woodland mural inside the Category C prison – painted by an inmate (Credit: Jam Press)

“The equipment and the showers in the gym had been improved since the previous inspection.

“A well-resourced team of instructors hosted a wide range of activities, including Parkrun.

“A non-profit organisation that supports almost 800 communities across the country to coordinate free volunteer-led events for walkers and runners.”

But it added: “Managers had deployed the prison drone at a recent Parkrun event to deter throwovers – the throwing of illegal items into the prison from outside the perimeter.”

The bakery had been shut down but is now open again following “prisoner dissatisfaction.”

Lags have also been helping with decorating the corridors as part of the mental health initiative (Credit: Jam Press)

The petting zoo was designed to “engage prisoners and their families.”

The busker helped with the “positive prison culture.”

Governor Sean Ormerod said: “I’m immensely proud of the progress that has been made at Holme House over the last three years.”

Parkruns take place across the UK on Saturday mornings.

They are free to enter and are designed for participants to keep fit and improve their time.

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