Jail garden grows more than food

By ANNE KAZMIERCZAK
Register Reporter

Prominent at the corner of South Jefferson Street and East Jackson Avenue are a number of wood-framed garden beds. The garden, established last year by the Allen County Jail, is lush with growth that is providing inmates with fresh produce for their meals.
On Wednesday, pasta salad replete with snow peas was on the menu. Other meals have featured salads, herbs and greens.
Last year, the gardens saved Allen County $5,000 in food costs. This year, it is bound to be more, said Jail Administrator Joni Tucker.
Another plus to the produce is the nutritional boost to prison meals and the introduction of fresh flavors to many who have never tried them before.
“It’s the first time I’ve ever eaten peas like this — coming right off the vine — they’re delicious,” said inmate and garden helper Marty Bennett. “I don’t like cooked peas,” he added. The inmates are served snap and snow peas fresh with ranch dressing as part of their uncooked evening meal, Bennett noted.
Another favorite of Bennett’s is the garden’s radishes. “I eat (them) all the time,” he said.
Tucker noted many of the jail’s inmates had no experience with fresh foods.
“We had quite a lot of ladies who never had fresh produce before, and didn’t know what to do with it,” she said. “One young man had never had a fresh tomato. Now he eats them like candy.”
The jailed dine on carrots, squash, tomatoes, peas, salad greens and herbs from their plots.
“We use them as fast as we get them,” Tucker said of the crops.
Fried green tomatoes “went over really well last year,” noted Darlene Kitchens, corrections supervisor.

THE IDEA for the garden first came about when jail employees learned of a similar program at Angola Prison in Louisiana.
“Typically, a jail is a huge drain on taxpayer dollars,” Kitchens said. Using inmate-grown produce to supplement jail food, though, “save(s) the jail money,” she noted.
“Joni took the idea to the sheriff and he thought it was wonderful,” Kitchens said.
“We have an inmate commissary” where the jailed purchase such things as cigarette and candy “and we took the profits from that to pay for this,” she added. Jail crews built the wooden garden bed frames, and inmates Bennett and Dusty Dickerson constructed the sturdy wire tomato cages surrounding some plants.
Also making the garden possible were the donation of use of the space by landowner Kent Thompson and assistance by county director of Public Works Bill King, who provided the soil for the boxes, Kitchens said.
The public has appreciated the beautification of the corner, Kitchens said. “We have had so much community support.”

ALLOWING low-risk inmates to work in the garden “teach(es) the inmates some living skills and some character building skills, too,” Kitchens said.
Lessons learned have included patience, perseverance, and self-sufficiency, added Kitchens.
“They learned they could take care of themselves — with a $1 seed packet they could grow $100 worth of food,” Kitchens said.
The garden, too, has given inmates a sense of accomplishment, she noted.
At last year’s Allen County Fair, “we entered some beautiful baskets” of produce, “but we weren’t eligible to win any prizes,” she said. This year, she may allow inmates to enter such baskets as individuals, putting them in the run for the ribbons.
Only low-risk inmates are allowed to work at the garden, Tucker said. “They can’t have any person felonies (a crime against another human being). They have to have good behavior. They are never allowed to come out without a corrections officer and they are always on canmera.”
Both inmates sentenced to the county jail and those awaiting charges can participate, Tucker said. Crimes such as driving under the influence, disorderly conduct or failure to pay fines are typical of garden assistants, Tucker noted.
“We would not bring anybody out here that we feel would be a danger to society,” she said.
Overall, all concerned would rank the gardens a success.
“I think it’s made the inmates have better food choices and it’s been helpful in letting inmates have some responsibility they haven’t been exposed to,” Tucker said.
Some former inmates even come back and help out once in a while, she noted.
“We’re teaching them a hobby and something other to do than get in trouble,” she said.

6/17/10