Jersey inmates build 20 hedgehog boxes from pallets
Get the Energy newsletter
Daily energy & climate — solar, EVs, oil, the policy fights and tech bets shaping the transition. Free.
- Inmates at HMP La Moye in St Brelade built 20 feeding and nesting boxes from reclaimed pallet timber for Jersey Hedgehog Preservation Group, donating them earlier in August.
- Peter Gould, the prison's vocational manager, said the work could help reduce reoffending by teaching inmates employable skills and giving them a sense of community contribution.
- Dru Burdon from the hedgehog group said all 20 feeding boxes sold out at £20 each, with only a few £25 nesting boxes remaining, and described the boxes as 'saving hedgehogs' lives.'
- The scheme started after a chance meeting at the vets between Burdon and a prison officer who had brought in an injured hedgehog — she then supplied the box templates.
- Gould said the project teaches health and safety best practice and hands-on experience with machinery and equipment, potentially leading to recognised construction industry qualifications.
- The hedgehog boxes are part of a wider prison vocational programme that also refurbishes bikes for Age Concern Jersey, restores memorial benches, grows plants and vegetables, and creates wildlife habitats.
Why it matters: The partnership pairs a measurable conservation output — 20 handmade boxes sold to the public at £20–£25 each — with a structured rehabilitation pipeline giving inmates carpentry, health-and-safety, and machinery experience aimed at construction industry qualifications. For the charity, it converts inmate labour into a steady supply of fundraising stock; for the prison, it adds a tangible community-impact project to its vocational portfolio.
Ask SkimNews
![Robot delivery dog dumps hot steaming packages on your doorstep [video]](https://electrek.co/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2026/08/delivery-dog_MAIN-copy.jpg?quality=82&strip=all&w=1600)
