Across the country, jails are giving inmates an opportunity to get outside, be productive, and become better citizens, while filling a need at the jail and in the community. Gardens planted and maintained by prisoners are cropping up in many rural areas, with the programs saving state's thousands of dollars by providing the prisoners, and the community, with locally produced foods.
The Montgomery County Regional Jail's program planted five acres of vegetables this spring, one acre at the jail and the other four on city property in the 1,500-town of Jeffersonville in Central Kentucky, Tom Marshall reports for the Mount Sterling Advocate. Jailer Eric Jones said last year's crop saved the jail about $8,000 in food costs, and he expects this year's savings to be $80,000. “It’s a benefit to the inmates, it’s a benefit to the community and a benefit to our budget,” Jones said. “I think this is going to be a huge success.”
Pennington County Jail in rural South Dakota has a similar
program. The jail, located in Box Elder, with a population of 8,000, is
just outside Rapid City. The county leases the plot, the city provides
water, and compost was donated by the city of Rapid City, Andrea Cook reports in the Rapid City Journal.
Sheriff Kevin Thom told Cook the garden costs about $5,000 to maintain,
but as it continues to expand, "it should provide enough vegetables
to supply some fresh produce for the jail's kitchen." (Journal photo by Benjamin Brayfield: Inmate Shayne Nelson tends the garden)
The Huntington County Jail, located in the 17,000-population town of Huntington, Ind., 25 miles outside Fort Wayne, is in its second year of its program, which officials said they hope helps prisoners from becoming repeat offenders, reports NewsChannel 15 in Fort Wayne. "Sheriff Terry Stoffel says the garden is virtually no cost to his department, and it even saved them money last year after the garden yielded two to three months worth of produce."
Heather Heath, an inmate who is incarcerated for theft, told NewsChanel 15, "It just makes you remember that there is a world out here and it makes you really want to do better and to actually change and come back out into the world and do things like gardening. It kind of gives you a new perspective on life."
The Montgomery County Regional Jail's program planted five acres of vegetables this spring, one acre at the jail and the other four on city property in the 1,500-town of Jeffersonville in Central Kentucky, Tom Marshall reports for the Mount Sterling Advocate. Jailer Eric Jones said last year's crop saved the jail about $8,000 in food costs, and he expects this year's savings to be $80,000. “It’s a benefit to the inmates, it’s a benefit to the community and a benefit to our budget,” Jones said. “I think this is going to be a huge success.”
The Huntington County Jail, located in the 17,000-population town of Huntington, Ind., 25 miles outside Fort Wayne, is in its second year of its program, which officials said they hope helps prisoners from becoming repeat offenders, reports NewsChannel 15 in Fort Wayne. "Sheriff Terry Stoffel says the garden is virtually no cost to his department, and it even saved them money last year after the garden yielded two to three months worth of produce."
Heather Heath, an inmate who is incarcerated for theft, told NewsChanel 15, "It just makes you remember that there is a world out here and it makes you really want to do better and to actually change and come back out into the world and do things like gardening. It kind of gives you a new perspective on life."
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