MSU Extension Nutrition

The health benefits of gardening are far-reaching. Gardening involves physical activity, building strength and flexibility. The connection to nature through gardening positively impacts mental health and well-being. The ability to grow and harvest fresh produce increases a willingness to try new foods among young children and has shown to boost vegetable consumption.

Research often points to gardening's positive benefits throughout a person's lifespan. But outside of physical and mental health, community gardens also positively impact social conditions such as community connection, trust and a sense of belonging. Growing food is also a strategy for greater control over one’s food system, or food sovereignty.

These known benefits associated with gardening may help explain a surge in popularity of gardens within jails and prisons throughout the United States, with rehabilitation cited as a leading reason. Review of research on jail or prison gardens has shown positive association with self-efficacy, or belief in oneself, improved mood, decreased anxiety, reduced aggressive behavior, and reduced rates of recidivism or relapse.

There are over 650 state-operated adult prisons with some type of agricultural activity in all 50 states. Southern states have the most prisons that include an agriculture component. Data from the National Institute for Corrections show about one-third of United States’ prisons include some aspect of green education and job training efforts. Prisons point to a variety of reasons to establish agricultural activity, including landscaping needs, job readiness, feeding individuals who are incarcerated, work requirements, and therapeutic reasons.

Southeast Michigan is home to two county jail garden programs. The Monroe County Jail Garden is estimated to be up to 1.5 acres and, as one jail employee who provides support to the garden notes, has more than tripled in size over the last year. The onsite edible garden is securely fenced and grows an impressive variety of produce. Harvested food is donated to community organizations for consumption and used in the jail meal service. Selected jail inmates have the option to participate in weeding, watering and harvesting produce as part of recreation. Monroe County Jail staff state that the garden helps provide inmates with a sense of purpose and a source of pride in knowing much of their harvest supports others.

Shiawassee County Jail re-established their garden in 2023 for juveniles. Youth between 12 and 17 years old participate in the garden as part of community service requirements. Garden supplies were donated by a local business. In turn, harvested produce is donated to local food pantries and to the public through a farm stand. According to Shiawassee County Jail staff, the juvenile garden program is “very rewarding and keeps the kids busy and allows them to get outside. The garden shows the youth that we’re here to help and teach them."

Despite what may sound and feel good about the idea of inmates gardening, an alternative perspective of agricultural activities in jails offers a more critical eye. Opponents to the idea have identified points that are cause for concern and potentially misleading including potentially reinforcing oppressive structures. These critics include reasons that cite rehabilitation as attempts by prison administrators to gain public and/or political support and paint a false idea of compassion and charity, as many prison gardens donate produce to community entities such as food banks. Additional points include potential for exploitation of inmates who work to grow food to be sold by prisons to large food companies for very little or no monetary compensation.

The Prison Agriculture Lab at Colorado State University exists as “a collaborative space for inquiry action that focuses on agriculture in the criminal punishment system.” Researchers affiliated with the lab have created the first nationwide dataset on information about agriculture in United States’ prisons.

In an interview, the lab's co-founders raised the idea of an abolitionist approach to food, “…abolitionist food futures really begin with revaluing our relationship to food and the land, revaluing the people that do that work, and the ecosystems that make it all possible.”

Recommendations identified by advocates and scholars include:

• Applying social and food justice frameworks to prison jail program curricula. This should include providing individuals who are incarcerated with tools to apply food justice advocacy once released with the hope of promoting community food security.
• Supporting the development of a network of food-related businesses and farms willing to employ individuals who were formerly incarcerated.
• Creating systems within the jail food system that enable individuals who are incarcerated to eat food harvested from gardens.
• Establishing protocols to distribute excess garden harvest to families of people who are incarcerated or to people who were formerly incarcerated.

Horticultural strategies, such as edible gardening in prisons, are associated with positive mental health effects and opportunities for outdoor physical activity. While research exists to support these benefits, it is important to be mindful of the limitations and concerns associated with prison garden programs.