Photos Courtesy of The News and Observer
JOHNSTON CORRECTIONAL INSTITUTION COMMUNITY GARDEN
“When the inmates are in the garden, it’s like they are not in prison. It's like when you get into a good book and you become part of the story. It’s like that. For the time they are in the garden, they forget they are incarcerated.” - Phil
Community Gardening comes in all forms, sizes and expressions. One of the beauties of community gardening is, as Phil pointed out “It’s not one size fits all”. There is not a singular method to its creation or a specific sort of people that are qualified to participate. A Community Garden can be a place where neighborhoods are unified, churches build bridges between church members and the local community, farmers educate on organic, sustainable farming, or they emphasize care for the environment. At Johnston Correctional Institution, the Community Gardens serves as a place where, despite the inmates' circumstances, they can work together to serve others and participate in something good that is bigger than themselves.
The vision of Johnston Correctional Institution Community Garden is to educate inmates on gardening and cooking as well as providing a space where they can serve the community outside of the Correctional Institution. Phil, the director of the community garden, recalled how the garden first became involved in Plant a Row for the Hungry,
“I’d been teaching horticulture at Johnston for 20 years. I’d known the Logans for a long time. Leslie and Josh were presenting at a garden show. One of the Garden Writers of America mentioned Plant a Row so I approached Leslie and said: ‘Leslie, this is something that I really want to get involved in, the idea of inmates giving back to the community really resonates with me.”
This brief conversation was the beginning of the Johnston Correctional Institution’s involvement with Plant a Row for the Hungry. They’ve donated between 9 to 11 thousand pounds a year since their first year, and on a quarter acre!
“My vision is that, well, you know, everyone sees inmates as doing wrong. And they have done wrong ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God’ but this is a way they can give back to the community....this vision really clicked for me when one guy working in the garden who had been convicted of a bad crime said, ‘This food is going to help people just like me! I was the guy who was eating out of that soup kitchen. I was THAT guy, but now I’m giving back to people just like me!’ ”
At Johnston Correctional Institution Community Garden, inmates are able to serve their community and participate in something bigger than themselves. Here, in the community garden, Phil noted “The fences go away”.
Here, hard work and service to the community give inmates the opportunity to serve the world outside of the correctional institution while gaining skills in gardening and food.
Thank you to Phil for sharing this story and thank you to each individual who contributed to the thousands of pounds of produce given each year from Johnston Correctional Institution Community Garden!