Canada: A farm where prisoners grow produce for victims: why this woman wants to put a ‘transformative justice’ farm on Vancouver Island
Prison farms — or agricultural programs, as the CSC calls them, were shut down by former prime minister Stephen Harper’s government in 2011 and are now in the process of being reinstated.
By Alex McKeen
The Star
July 25, 2021
Excerpt:
Emma’s Acres, on the other hand, is a tiny six-acre lot that grows a variety of fruits and vegetables, and is worked by vetted, supervised inmates on day parole. And in B.C., where there is no agriculture program run by CSC, it’s a unique model.
“(The inmates) have to apply to go, they have to have months and months of a proven record of wanting to improve themselves,” said Cain. She said the program acts like a detox from prison, and that it’s not just about using prison labour to produce goods.
“People get hung up on the fact that there’s monetary value,” she said. “It is a nurturing thing.”
L.I.N.C. works with inmates with varying criminal backgrounds at federal institutions, usually those who have been in prison a long time and are progressing through various programs to prepare them for parole. To qualify for the farm they have to be vetted both by CSC and by L.I.N.C. and they are supervised while volunteering in the community.
The philosophy behind the farm, Cain said, is one of transformative justice. It’s not restorative justice, because people who have been murdered, for instance, cannot be restored. But something good can still come out of the lives of the offenders, and seeing that helps them reintegrate into society after prison.
“We consider food, making sure that people have good food — it’s a social justice issue,” said Sherry Edmunds-Flett, the executive director and co-founder of L.I.N.C. She said the city of Langford turning down their proposal does not kill the idea altogether.
