Comments on: In U.S. Prisons, Seeds Are Prized Contraband for Prisoners Looking to Grow Their Own Food

By: S. Sink

S. Sink — Fri, 23 Dec 2022 16:08:32 +0000

In reply to Otis Needleman. I have a pen pal on death row in NC. The nutrition there is awful, and the "food packages" we can buy for them are all junk food, just with flavor. How I wish I could send a crate of fruit to him a couple times a year. Nothing is allowed from any outside vendor except Amazon, and then ONLY books. (I tried adding on envelopes once and they got confiscated.)

By: Peter Vine

Peter Vine — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 02:49:15 +0000

In reply to M Howard. Yes, that warning about mercury in fluorescent bulbs is correct and should please be passed on to the prison gardeners. Peter Vine.

By: C. Rachelle

C. Rachelle — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 21:51:19 +0000

I was released from a Washington State women’s prison this last April. I worked as a teachers assistant in the Horticulture program. This article mirrors my experience exactly. Every point and scenario throughout is very accurate. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a hustle in prison because we rarely get them. Onions and peppers for cooking are always in demand. I kept our own herb garden. Cilantro was like gold. I learned a lot in that program. I ended being released a couple years earlier than expected (CoA overturned part of my case). I completed my first landscaping job 6 weeks after left. I have my general contractors license now and I’ve made a good living with what i learned in that program. Certainly a better living than what I did before. Less stressful too! Great article!

By: N Dangello

N Dangello — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 21:39:41 +0000

In reply to M Howard. This is very true. Please don't add mercury to your diet.

By: Amanda Berger

Amanda Berger — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 20:14:57 +0000

Hello, we work with Insight Garden Program in 10 prisons in CA, offering a 48-week curriculum built around four arcs of learning: Principles of Eco-Literacy, the design and installation of permaculture gardens, “Inner Gardening,” and Re-entry Support. We grow vegetables and herbs in our gardens. We have found the combination of mindfulness, growing food and “inner gardening” to be deeply meaningful to our participants inside the prison and in the community. For 20 years, IGP has been doing this work to restore the connection to self, community, and the natural world in prisons and in the community. Thank you for lifting the importance of this

By: Otis Needleman

Otis Needleman — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 20:02:52 +0000

Suggest prison commissaries and mail-order places supplying inmates be allowed to sell seeds. Good way to improve diets, good way for inmates to do something constructive.

By: Kathy Young

Kathy Young — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 16:44:25 +0000

When I worked at Florida State Prison at Raiford, the next-door Work Camp (non-violet offebnders) had a farming program and grew much of the vegetables that the inmates (and we staff) ate every day. Growing food YOU will eat is a motivator.

By: M Howard

M Howard — Mon, 19 Dec 2022 15:56:27 +0000

There is mercury in fluorescent tubes. Crushing them as described in this article releases toxic mercury into the air, and the soil they are growing vegetables in. Please get word to these prisoners this is a very dangerous thing they are doing