Since three weeks, Amsterdam has a special coffee shop, with only ‘Pure Coffee’. Everything in the store is produced in the prison and the staff consists of ex-convicts. In 2014, the founder of the business Jemuel Lampe started the very first coffee shop in the Netherlands where ex-prisoners are given the opportunity to reintegrate into society.
Stephan has been working as a barista for Zuivere Koffie since 2018 and was released in the same year after two years in prison. In 2022 he still had to serve an old sentence of six months. “I’ve just been released, about five weeks. That takes a lot of getting used to, of course, but I’m happy to be busy again, that’s very important to me,” he tells AT5.
‘Push in the back’
Founder Lampe also has a criminal past and believes that everyone should be given a second chance. “When you come out of prison, it is important that you have an income, a daytime activity and can build a structure.”
Lampe has already helped 100 ex-prisoners with the work he offers. “You always have to want to change, of course. You also have to be able to look at your detention as a moment of recovery; this has to be different, I have to take a different tack,” he emphasizes. “And those are exactly the men and women we are looking for, who need that little push.”
With the help of Pure Coffee, Stephan never came into contact with the law again after his first detention. “You want to change, but wanting to change and actually being able to do it without a party that believes in you, or without people who genuinely give you the chance; that’s just very difficult,” he says. “Again, there’s no red carpet in front of you when you come out.”