1. About the Author
• Born in Germany in 1954, and
immigrated to America with her family,
often did not have enough money to
survive
• Given “The Grapes of Wrath” as a book while she was in the
hospital, inspired her to help people become more in touch
with the land.
• Started her work in prisons around 1984, after a miraculous
recovery from a rare and serious kidney disease.
• Written a few other essays about the same topic, gives
speeches around the United States.

2. Context
• The United States has the
worlds highest prison
population of just under 1% of
the population. Followed by
Russia and Rwanda
• Over three percent of Americans are under correctional
supervision.
• Essay focuses on how we can get prisoners involved with
the earth, and give them hope for their future.
• Most prisoners are re-indicted after their first prison
sentence, Sneed wants to give them something to be proud
of, and help them find a passion that will give them
something to do other than crime.

3. quotes
• “What we have in this country is poor people
and vacant land”
• “It’s very, very important that you give people
who have hurt people, who have killed
people, an opportunity to be able to look in
the mirror and say, “God, I can do something
good””

4. questions
• Do you think this system should be
implemented into prisons across the whole
country?
• Do you think Sneed is right in thinking that
people just need something to be proud of to
feel important and stay out of trouble?