GRAFTON, Ohio — This spring and summer, inmates at Grafton Correctional Institution spent hours in the garden that sits within prison walls planting, weeding and growing produce. By the end of the summer, they had harvested and donated 20,000 pounds of food for organizations like Catholic Charities.
The food donations are crucial to organizations like the Bishop Cosgrove Center, a day drop-in center on Superior Avenue in Cleveland. Terrel Valentine, program director at the center, said they serve up to 350 people lunch and 250 people breakfast daily. The fresh vegetables from the prison are an important part of those meals, especially considering the cost to buy produce.
“It is a blessing in itself because first off, just trying to purchase fruit, vegetables, those types of things, they're so expensive. We are dealing with populations of folks who do have food disparities,” Valentine said. “So to be able to incorporate healthy food into our menu is really a blessing for those who benefit from this program.”
Valentine, who does the menu planning for the center, is always looking for creative ways to incorporate the produce into the meals they serve. She also said their sister site, a shelter called St. Elizabeth in Lorain, also receives food from the garden.
“It's beautiful for those who benefit from it, it's beautiful for us who are actually coming out here to see it, and especially for those who are out here with their hands in the soil and actually producing this stuff for us,” Valentine said. “So our community benefits, the community here benefits, I just think it's a win-win altogether.”
Sister Rita Harwood has been involved in prison ministry for nearly three decades. She also sees the benefit of the garden not only for those who get to eat its vegetables, but also for the men who tend to it.
“It gives a sense of meaning and purpose, and the opportunity to be able to help people is a very healing opportunity,” she said. “So for the men who are doing this gardening, this has been good, and for the people who have enjoyed their vegetables, it’s been a real gift. On every side, it’s working and it’s helping. I think it’s an extension of just the desire and care that we have for one another, no matter where we are. And I think this is proof of that.”
Sister Harwood shared that during the pandemic, the inmates at Grafton began sewing masks to donate to Catholic Charities agencies, and the help continued coming through the garden.
“They began a garden and that first year they produced, I believe, 3,000 pounds, and we thought that was absolutely wonderful,” she said. “The next year it went up to nine, the year after that they did 16, and now, this year, 20,000 pounds of vegetables have been produced by these men and through this garden. And they've gone all over the community. So that's been so exciting.”
Josh, who 3News is only identifying by his first name at the request of the prison, has taken the helm of the garden, spending hours in it daily to carefully tend to the crops. For him, working in the garden reminds him of the way his grandparents worked the land growing up.
“Being in this environment, things that happen at home can get you down. So guys can come out here and get a little peace of mind,” he said. “Picking vegetables is like therapy. It’s like a therapeutic way, for real, to get your mind back in order.”
Josh has two more years until he faces the parole board, and says gardening has been his escape. Grafton is the ninth prison he’s been in, and he says he’s never been in an environment like it. In addition to the garden, Grafton offers different programs and activities including culinary, sewing and training dogs in order to teach skills.
“Grafton is one of the prisons that wants to help you focus on going back home. All the other ones, there's so much violence and stuff that's going on, they don't really have time to set up a program. Here, there's so much going on, so there's less violence,” he said. “It’s a better way to help us get ready to go back into society because we can work on [ourselves] here, you know what I mean, and be prepared to be your guys’ neighbors.”
That preparation and support is important in what warden Jerry Spatny calls a helping institution and reentry institution.
“Hope is job one, and that’s what we want to do," Spatny said. "We want to have these guys have hope so that they can be productive citizens, because most of the guys who live in our prison are returning to the community, they’re going to be our neighbors. I always tell people, you’re either getting better or you’re getting worse. So we try to help these guys get better.”
Josh said it's a way to give back to society.
“So what better way to take advantage of sitting in here doing idle time? We can still give back to help show we have changed. This is the best way to do it.”