Prison Gardens: Healthy Work for Today, Skills for Tomorrow
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The document discusses the benefits of prison gardening programs for inmate and community health. Gardening can help address the high rates of substance abuse, physical and sexual abuse, and use of psychotropic medications among inmates. It promotes physical and mental health by providing fresh foods and physical activity to help address issues like obesity, diabetes and high blood pressure. Gardening also gives inmates a sense of control and skills training that can help reduce high recidivism rates upon release. Examples are given of existing gardening programs in US juvenile detention centers and prisons.
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Prison Gardens: Healthy Work for Today, Skills for Tomorrow
- 1. Prison Gardens: Healthy Work for Today, Skills for Tomorrow Tri-State Local Food Summit February 11th, 2017 Scott Koepke Alice Topaloff
- 2. 1) Who we are. 2) Making the case for gardening in prison. 3) Stories from the field. Introduction
- 3. Making the case for gardening in prison Mental health • Approximately half of prison and jail inmates meet criteria for “substance abuse or dependence”. • > 50% of women in state prisons and local jails report having been physically and/or sexually abused in the past • 60% of inmates at ICIW are taking prescribed psychotropic medications. Gardening as horticulture therapy.
- 4. Making the case for gardening in prison Physical health • The rates of high blood pressure and diabetes nearly doubled between 2004 and 2012 • The majority of prisoners (74%) and jail inmates (62%) were overweight, obese, or morbidly obese. Gardening for access to fresh fruits and vegetables + physical activity.
- 5. Social health • Inmates’ lives are scheduled. • Design and manage the garden/farm. • Connect with family members (US: 65% report being being mothers to children under 18) Gardening as something to have control of. Making the case for gardening in prison
- 7. Making the case for gardening in prison Community health • Most will go back to communities • Prison community health • Donations to local pantries Gardening as training (gardening, job and life skills)
- 8. In the U.S., we: • Incarcerate more than any other country. • Recidivism rates: 68% in the three years following release. Before getting to the fun stuff…
- 9. Juvenile detention Oakdale Grow Johnson county
- 25. Get involved – volunteer, hire. Be aware of incarceration in the U.S.. Conclusion
- 26. The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander [BOOK] 13th, Ava Duvernay [MOVIE] (google: growing gardens in prison) Jake Cronin (2011) The Path to Successful Reentry: The Relationship Between Correctional Education, Employment and Recidivism, Institute of Public Policy, Truman Policy Research. http://ipp.missouri.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/the_path_to_successful_reentry.pdf Madison L. Gates and Robert K. Bradford,(2015) the Impact of Incarceration on Obesity: Are Prisoners with Chronic Diseases Becoming Overweight and Obese during their Confinement? Journal of Obesity, Volume 2015 http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2015/532468 Maruschak, Laura M., Marcus Berzofsky, Dr.P.H., and Jennifer Unangst. (2015) Medical Problems of State and Federal Prisoners and Jail Inmates, 2011–12. U.S. Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics http://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/mpsfpji1112.pdf Lawson, W. (2007) Fighting crime with nutrition: Is a poor diet to blame for crime? Research shows it could be. Psychology Today. https://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200305/fighting-crime-nutrition Geoffrey Godbey (2009) Outdoor Recreation, Health, and Wellness: Understanding and enhancing the Relationship. Resources for the future http://www.rff.org/documents/RFF-DP-09-21.pdf Additional resources
Editor's Notes
- NOT a history or overview of the incarceration system, the story of structural racism or how prisons reinforce existing systems of oppression (lots of books and smarter people for that) This is: hoping to build empathy, get you excited to be involved
- Although the restorative benefits of gardening have not as of yet been subjected to rigorous scientific studies
- 3 fruits/week (banana, apple, orange) Describe breakfast Describe what is available on cantine Requirements incomparable to other institutions
- Caviat: 37 cents / hour Slave labor
- Farmers market
- Incarceration is ancient, Remove people deemed as dangerous from society Punitive: do something bad, punished, don’t do it again Something isn’t working. Norway: 30% recidivism (68% in US) Women = 7% of prison population, but rising faster than men WOC: black women = 3.7 times incarceration rate of white women (racial profiling, targeting specific neighborhoods, etc. Class: 40% of all incarcerated women had been employed FT before incarceration (2/3rd of women under supervision – prison, jail, parole or probabtion) had never held a job tat paid more than $6.50/hour. 37% earned less than $600/month 65% report being mothers to children under 18 2007: 65% of women in state prisons are incarcerated for drug, property or public order offenses More than half of women in state prisons and local jails report having been physically and/or sexually abused ni the past Unequal sentencing law: until August 2010, possessing 5g of crack = 500g of cocaine.