People from as far as Mellieħa waited in hour-long queues for qagħaq tal-appostli from the Corradino prison's bakery on Good Friday.  

For the last four weeks, hungry customers could buy baked goods on weekends from the stall outside the Corradino Correctional Facility.

But since last Friday the bakery has opened every day of the week, with a large line of people wrapping around the side of the prison building gathering on the morning of Good Friday. 

27-year-old Melissa Micallef who works at CCF said that the bakery has been busy. 

“People were lining up before we opened,” she said, noting that Good Friday has traditionally always been the busiest day for them. 

There is a lot of demand for the prison’s product because people know there is some thought behind the bakery, Micallef added.  

“We are teaching people from prison this skill (baking) which can eventually give them a better chance of finding a job in the future,” she said. 

Micallef said that CCF inmates and prison officials bake bread and sweets which together and these are later sold at the stall outside. 

The inmates' menu includes delicious treats like figolli, doughnuts, among others, but it’s the qagħaq tal-appostli (lenten ring bread) that draws in the crowds.  

When Times of Malta arrived at Corradino, the stall was out of bread and was waiting for a fresh batch of 70 loaves to arrive fresh from the oven.  

No sooner had a delivery van emerged from the prison gates, the bread was quickly snapped up by waiting customers, with another van following suit with another batch shortly after.

Photo: Jonathan Borg

The demand for the Lenten bread from the prison bakery has grown to such an extent that officials have had to limit the amount of bread that can be bought by one person to two at a time, Micallef said.

One man said that he came all the way from Mellieħa to buy the bread.

“Everyone talks about the qaghaq tal appostli from the prison so today we want to try it out,” Chris Borg who had been waiting for over an hour said.  

A few metres behind Borg were cousins Kristine and Jeryc, who took the opportunity of their day off from work and school to buy the famous bread.  

“I’m craving it,” Kristine said.  

Kristine, who is from the Philippines, was in the area when she noticed the large queue and thought the bread must be good. She convinced her cousin to wait in line with her.  

“I told my cousin, ejja let’s go,” Kristine, who has lived in Malta for the last six years, said.  

Steve Farrugia is a returning customer, having bought bread on Tuesday.  He said that he was returning because of the great quality of the bread but also to support a “good cause”. 

“We managed to get our bread immediately but on Good, Friday queues are expected,” the 39-year-old said. 

One couple Moira Zahra and Renald Busuttil finally came to try the prison’s bread after years of putting it off.

“Today we had the time,” Zahra said.  

Busuttil added that he wasn’t frustrated with the long queues. 

“My mother waited nine months for me to arrive, I can wait an hour for bread,” he said.