DOING TIME IN THE GARDEN
(2006)
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PRISON GARDENS
This is the first comprehensive guide to in-prison and post-release horticultural training programs. James Jiler combines an engaging personal account of running a highly successful horticultural vocation program at the largest jail complex in the United States with a practical guide to starting and managing prison and re-entry gardening programs.
A prison garden provides inmate work, produces better food for the institution, teaches work skills, and provides an achievement opportunity for inmates. In Dirt! The Movie we introduced you to the Rikers Island prison garden program, The Greenhouse Project. Since then, we have received several emails from viewers asking us for more information about prison gardens, so we’ll be presenting information from time to time highlighting various prison garden programs and resources. One of the organizations we found is The Garden Project. This program gives ex-prisoners who have been released a place to continue working on a farm, similar to New York’s Green Team that was also featured in Dirt! The Garden Project is based on the success of The Horticulture Program at the San Francisco County Jail. For a bird’s eye view of prison gardens around the country, including The Garden Project and The Greenhouse Project, please check out this excellent blog post by Rachel Cernansky. She gives a great overview of several prison garden programs, and describes how food banks benefit from them. You can find more information about prison and therapeutic gardens at Therapeutic Landscapes Network. The Therapeutic Landscapes Network is a knowledge base and gathering space about healing gardens, restorative landscapes, and other green spaces that promote health and well-being. And read Dirt! The Movie participant, James Jiler‘s book, Doing Time in the Garden: Life Lessons through Prison Horticulture |
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
James Jiler directs the Greenhouse Project for male and female inmates at New York City’s Rikers Island jail system. He also directs the GreenTeam of ex-offenders, who work on landscape-related projects throughout New York State. Jiler’s humor and heartfelt stories about prison community and clear explanations of what works broaden this book’s appeal to social activists, educators, and those involved with at-risk populations and community gardens.
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