There are plenty of opinions about people who end up in prison. I have a few of my own. Perhaps I have some perspective that others don't because of the population I work with and what I see every day. It is a complex problem and there are many roots tangled up together, ranging from childhood trauma, fetal alcohol syndrome, parenting, mental health, chemical health, social adjustment, emotional adjustment, to societal failures and more. We know how to get a prison population and we know that we want crime punished. What we truly don't know is how to rehabilitate offenders.
A few programs have been started to make a difference in offender's lives and recidivism (committing new crimes upon release) rates drop dramatically. I personally am very interested in restorative justice, but this garden idea seems really meaningful too. Bottom line, we are humanity together and we have to learn better ways to move in a positive direction together.
The Insight Garden Program's Vegetable Garden at San Quentin State Prison from wiley rogers on Vimeo.
This video is longer, but if you are interested in the topic it is worth the time to watch and get a foundational understanding of restorative Justice.
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