The Criminal Bar Association says the idea of women prisoners cooking for staff at the Auckland District Court should be encouraged.
The plan was put forward by the Corrections Department, as the previous operator has stopped running the court's canteen.
Only low- and minimum-risk prisoners close to their release date would be allowed to work there.
The associations' secretary Roger Chambers says Corrections has a very good screening process, and it would help reintegrate the women into the community.
He says a group of inmates runs a coffee bar at Mt Eden Prison in Auckland, and that has worked well.
Corrections says the Ministry of Justice is considering the proposal.
