Prison Gardeners

What do you do with prison inmates with too much time on their hands, you put them to work. Similar to, but not to be confused with the barbaric or archaic "chain gangs" of old, inmates in Idaho are being put to work growing and harvesting fresh produce such as potatoes, beans corn, and carrots for local food banks. Personally, I think it's a wonderful idea. The inmates are given something productive to do to occupy their time and the food banks receive much needed food. With an over abundance of prison inmates having idle time on their hands and an ever increasing number of people needing food assistance causing food bank shortages it only made sense to put such a project into effect. Donations of seed, fertilizer and gardening supplies from private sectors have made the whole project affordable and possible. Contrary to what some might believe, these "prison gardeners" are not being cruelly and unusually punished or exploited, they are being given an opportunity to repay their debt to society in a rewarding manner. As inmate James Robinson said, "Prisoners growing crops on public land for public good; they should have started this a long time ago."