The Prison Garden Empowering Women to Pursue Growth
An Atlanta-based nonprofit’s farm program helps incarcerated women feed themselves and others while preparing them to re-enter society.
By Lia Picard
Modern Farmer
May 27, 2022
Excerpt:
“What often happens is, when people are incarcerated, they are disconnected from the outside world completely. And they don’t have access to skills-based training,” says Herbert. “We are providing them with job skills. We are connecting them to outside communities. We are building relationships with our students and teachers in our school.”
When they leave the facility, graduates of the farm program (a total of 20 so far) are offered support and given access to a sliding-scale CSA box from Paideia if they stay in the Atlanta area.
When Jones was released, she moved to south Georgia to be near family. She’s not working in an agricultural job, but the lessons from her time tending to the prison’s garden have stayed with her. During her job search, she threw herself into her home garden, where she and her brother grow okra—a plant she appreciates for its ease of growing—and peppers. Tending to the garden was empowering, and it helped build her up as a woman. It also taught her how to sustain herself. “That’s something nobody could ever take from us now,” says Jones.
