Garden Organic

Garden Organic is currently working with the substance misuse team at HMP Rye Hill to create a shared garden within the prison. This supports the personal development of the prisoners, teaches them horticultural skills, allows them to demonstrate trust and responsibility and enables them to grow food which they can eat and, in the future, use to develop their cooking skills. As the project develops we will work with prisoners on their release to help them continue the development of their horticultural skills on release, by using our network of Master Gardeners. We also intend to develop potential pathways to employment in the horticultural sectors.

We have recently received further charitable trust funding and are seeking to expand this work to other prisons, initially in central England. We want to work with a range of different types of prisoners and develop our post release work with them to reduce reoffending and increase their chances of finding employment.