Algoa Correctional Center’s Restorative Justice gardens are not only providing hundreds of pounds of produce to local food banks, they are teaching offenders valuable skills.
Offenders in the program use the gardens to grow fruits and vegetables, which are then donated to area food banks and organizations that work to address food insecurity.
“It’s really exciting,” said Karen Pojmann, communications director for the Department of Corrections. “A lot of these offenders will say they feel like they’re fortunate to get three well-balanced meals every day, and they understand there are people in the community who don’t have that. So they’re really happy to invest back in the community and help people.”
Algoa has three gardens, each about 80 feet by 50 feet.
The three gardens grow cucumbers, corn, squash, zucchini, tomatoes, peppers, okra, four kinds of radishes, turnips, beans, beets, cabbage, watermelon and cantaloupe.
The offenders also grow sunflowers in the gardens, which help boost pollinators like birds, bees and butterflies.
Algoa partnered with the Missouri Department of Conservation to grow native plants outside the correctional center walls to attract pollinators and support the monarch butterfly population, which in turn helps support the Restorative Justice fruit and vegetable gardens.
Wells said 400-500 pounds of produce have already been distributed from Algoa’s gardens so far this year. Another 100 pounds of cantaloupe, radishes, cucumber, tomatoes, green beans, okra, zucchini and squash were harvested and distributed Monday.
Algoa’s gardens, which started in 2005, are part of the larger Department of Corrections Restorative Justice Program dating back to the mid-1990s.
The program provides the opportunity for offenders to participate in nonprofit work and projects supporting nonprofit agencies. Projects have included woodworking, gardening, quilting and dog training for the Puppies for Parole program.
Pojmann said Restorative Justice gardens exist throughout the state in almost every facility.
The amount of food produced by the gardens varies, Pojmann said, but it usually amounts to 70-100 tons statewide each year.
In 2017, she said 113 tons of food were produced in Restorative Justice gardens statewide.
Restorative Justice Gardens yielded 87 tons of fresh produce in 2018, 31 tons in 2019 because of tornadoes and flooding, and 36 tons in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Pojmann said.
All of the produce gets donated, with the exception of badly damaged items that are thrown out or sampled by the offenders.
In addition to area food banks, Pojmann said the produce goes to after-school programs, senior centers and organizations that help address food insecurity around the state.
Algoa Case Manager Vicki Wells, who oversees the gardening operations, said the Food Bank for Central and Northeast Missouri gets so much produce from Jefferson City Correctional Center’s Restorative Justice gardens, Algoa has started focusing elsewhere.
Rape and Abuse Crisis Service, Salvation Army, a food pantry in Holts Summit, the Clarke Senior Center, Jefferson City daycares and the Mid MO Samaritan Center receive produce from the gardens, Wells said.
The food is harvested and delivered three days per week, and Wells, whom the offenders fondly call “The Boss,” said she tries to evenly spread out distribution to various food banks.
Pojmann said most planting begins around March and harvest continues into October and November with some facilities, like Algoa, growing pumpkins and squash that aren’t ready until early fall.
Wells said pumpkins growing at Algoa this year will likely go to a local daycare for them to paint or decorate in the fall.
Offender Larry Frazee, who participates in the gardening at Algoa, said this year has been particularly rough after heavy rainfall in June caused root damage to some plants.
Frazee said the offenders usually garden for four hours, three days per week, starting around 6 a.m.
Offender J.J. Morin said he enjoys helping those without the means or knowledge to grow or purchase their own food.
“It gives us something to do instead of just sitting around doing negative stuff,” Morin said. “It gives us something positive to do.”
The offenders most recently planted radishes and beets.
Frazee said the gardens are all natural, steering clear of herbicides and chemical pesticides.
The garden uses cedar and white oak sawdust from projects made in the correctional center shop around the base of plants to act as a natural pesticide.
Wells said the offenders also use home remedies to deter pests, such as a mixture of water, garlic, hot sauce, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper and dish soap, which was sprayed along the perimeter of the gardens to prevent rabbits from eating the produce.
“Not only did it work on the rabbits, but these are our cells behind those screens, and if you live on the bottom cell houses you can smell it all night long,” Frazee said with a laugh.
Okra, which was new to the gardens this year, has been a learning experience for many of the offenders in the program who were taught how to plant it and when to harvest it for the best texture.
“It’s been an experience for all of us,” Frazee said. “A lot of the guys have never had any experience growing anything at all, so it’s a really good chance to get familiar with horticulture and just see what you can do.”
Frazee said he hopes to grow more okra next year because the plants did so well this year.
Wells said many of the participating offenders come out of the growing season with new skills in gardening and landscaping.
“We’ve had a few of them this year that’s never even planted anything, so it’s really neat for them to see something that you plant as a seed, put it in dirt and you water it and take care of it, and make it into something big and beautiful that people can eat or enjoy,” Wells said. “They’re loving it.”
In addition to watering and tending to the plants, Wells said the offenders often talk to the plants.
“It’s amazing, the time and effort they put in,” Wells said. “This is like their sanctuary. They come out, it’s quiet for them and it gets them away from all the chaos and all the loudness in the houses.”
Offender William Tolson Jr., another Restorative Justice participant, said his mom owned a small garden, but he’s been learning from other offenders how to tell if produce is ready for harvest or needs more time.
Tolson said he wants to start a nonprofit after his time in Algoa to continue gardening and donating food to those in need.
“My mom was a single mother of two kids, so I know how hard it was for her, so knowing that it goes to food banks and shelters and stuff like that, it touches back to how my mom got help,” Tolson said. “Knowing that I can do that for other families is actually a heartfelt and warm feeling.”
Offender Rusty Rudd, one of the more experienced gardening offenders, said he has learned a lot about growing a variety of produce since starting the program.
“I pay attention a little more now and have a little more time to do it, rather than just the speed of life,” Rudd said. “I have a lot more patience here and more time to learn and take it in, and try new things without having to worry about the results.”
Rudd laid out the produce placement, which he said involved studying how much water intake each crop required, what crops can’t be planted together and what pollinates each plant.
He said donating the food he has helped grow provides a sense of accomplishment not typically found around the correctional center.
“It’s hard to find things to look forward to or to brighten your day and know that you’re actually making an impact,” Rudd said. “We got cards from a bunch of kids last year that were just ecstatic and that made it just worthwhile for this whole next year. It gave me something to look forward to.”
Frazee agreed.
“That’s the best part about doing any of this, when you get feedback like that from little kids, the elderly or people out there that aren’t able to feed themselves very well,” Frazee said. “It’s nice to be able to give back.”