RE: Prison garden in Missouri

C* W*

Thank you for shedding a different perspective on this issue, I totally 
agree with your thoughts as I too have seen some incredible prison HT 
programs that have turned people's lives around. Altruism at its finest 
through the fruits of love in the garden!

>From: "John Verin" <jverin@pennhort.org>
>To: "Honigman, Adam" <Adam.Honigman@Bowne.com>,   "listserv cg" 
><community_garden@mallorn.com>
>Subject: RE: [cg] Prison garden in Missouri
>Date: Tue, 11 Jul 2000 13:20:31 -0400
>
>Slow down there, Adam.
>
>I've heard many account of prisoners LOVING their gardening opportunities,
>for it is/was their only outlet for creativity, connection to life... plant
>vitality, color, food... sense of their work doing good for the hungry...
>
>In an instance where food was being grown in a prison for a food bank, the
>work was entirely voluntary, and fact of the matter is, those prisoners who
>got involved wouldn't quit to let other prisoners have a try. The food
>gardening mattered that much to them. Moreover, the work in the garden was
>way more satisfying than hanging out in the weight lifting room or the
>concrete court yard.
>
>In the past, prison farms fed the prisoners. Not such a bad idea. Many of 
>us
>could use lessons in appreciation for the food we eat, i.e. to actually 
>work
>to make it grow. Corporate food distributors have gradually replaced prison
>farming, and from what I've heard, the prisoners were way better off eating
>the fresh produce they grew than the processed stuff coming out of "food
>service" companies.
>
>I put this out just to say it's best not to lash out at things since there
>can also be good sides.
>
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: community_garden-admin@mallorn.com
> > [c*@mallorn.com]On Behalf Of Honigman, Adam
> > Sent: Tuesday, July 11, 2000 12:07 PM
> > To: 'Emma Eyre'; community_garden@mallorn.com
> > Subject: RE: [cg] Prison garden in Missouri
> >
> >
> > Emma,
> >
> > Prison farms are an old story in the USA. The restorative justice spin 
>is
> > window dressing for the use of unpaid prison agricultural labor
> > in what has
> > come to be known as "The Prison Industrial Complex" . That the food 
>banks
> > get fresh food is a splendid end. The means is appalling.  This
> > end would be
> > better met by free, independant farmers paid a living wage by the
> > government.  That the unpaid agricultural labor of prison inmates is
> > construed by the program directors  as a great gift is similar to the
> > "Arbeit Macht Zu Frei" ( work makes you free) cast iron signs on the 
>gates
> > to Nazi concentration and forced labor camps. Orwell lives.
> >
> >  The largest and oldest self-sustaining organic prison farm is 
>Louisana's
> > Angola Prison (which was designed on the ante-bellum slave plantation
> > model.)  Angola prison, whose inmates are predominantly 
>African-American,
> > and whose sentences are often life imprisonment, can hardly be
> > considered a
> > progressive institution. Forced agricultural labor in a chain gang is 
>not
> > the model of renewable agriculture that we should foster.
> >
> > Adam
> >
> >
> >
> > > -----Original Message-----
> > > From:	Emma Eyre [SMTP:emma_eyre@hms.harvard.edu]
> > > Sent:	Monday, July 10, 2000 12:03 PM
> > > To:	community_garden@mallorn.com
> > > Subject:	[cg] Prison garden in Missouri
> > >
> > > Hello garden folks,
> > >
> > > Thought some of you might be interested in the following article (link
> > > below) on a prison garden in Boonville, Missouri.
> > > http://www.cnn.com/2000/FOOD/news/07/07/seeds.of.reform.ap/
> > >
> > > I have recently received a Peace Corps invitation to serve as an
> > > agriculture/forestry volunteer in El Salvador for a couple of years.  
>My
> > > recruiter said that I would most likely be working in a gardening
> > > cooperative or a tree nursery.  Does anyone on this list have any
> > > experience in agriculture work in Latin America -- specifically 
>Central
> > > America?  I would love to get in touch with you.  Also, if
> > anyone knows of
> > > internet resources I should look up, please drop me a line -- see my
> > > e-mail
> > > above (so you don't have to reply to the whole list).
> > >
> > > Thank you,
> > > Emma Eyre
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> > > Emma Eyre
> > > Curriculum Coordinator
> > > Division of Medical Sciences
> > > Harvard Medical School
> > > 260 Longwood Avenue
> > > Boston, MA  02115
> > > (617) 432-0605
> > >
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > community_garden maillist  -  community_garden@mallorn.com
> > > https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> > https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
> >
>
>
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