ITHACA, NY (CortacaToday) – An inmate program at the Tompkins County Jail is seeing success.

The jail garden, a partnership with the Sheriff’s Office and Ultimate Reentry Opportunity of Tompkins County, is enjoying its first season after being put on hold initially during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program aims to teach incarcerated people how to raise crops on a small scale. The garden has a variety of tomatoes, squash, zucchini, lettuce, and cucumbers.

 

In addition to providing vegetables to the jail kitchen and donations to local food pantries, the Sheriff’s Office says it teaches inmates a skill for life after incarceration, gives them something to take pride in, and allows them more time outside.