Therapeutic horticulture and desistance from crime

How to pursue a sustainable happiness in prison communities: An Italian case study

Abstract Scientists increasingly seek to respond to urgent calls for equity in science but may be unsure how to engage with underserved public groups. Prisons, jails, and detention centers are venues in which scientists may use their educational privilege to serve and empower diverse populations that are underserved by science education and underrepresented in science disciplines. We reversed the lens that traditionally focuses on the benefits of public engagement to the audience by documenting the impacts of delivering science lectures on the scientists who offered seminars to incarcerated people. The scientists who engaged in carceral settings gained professional benefits, shifted their preconceptions of incarcerated people, raised their perceived value of community engagement, and increased their interest in social justice. Some took direct actions for social change. This program could model effective engagement for other underserved groups in our society. We provide guidance to initiate such a program in other institutions. 

OUP accepted manuscript

. In the past two decades, conservationists and the corrections sector have implemented collaborative ecological restoration projects, creating more inclusive arenas for conservation. These venues provide people who are incarcerated with opportunities to have a positive impact on their environment, and for ecologists to communicate science and the importance of nature with people in nature-deprived environments. We provide examples of conservation programs and their associated media pieces nationwide, whose descriptions, to date, have been almost entirely anecdotal and without formal evaluation. In this study, a collaboration of ecologists and social scientists analyzed impacts on the “incarcerated citizen scientists” who participated in two conservation projects coordinated by these ecologists at the Salt Lake County Jail, Utah, using quantitative and qualitative approaches, including voluntary pre- and post-surveys. The quantitative results informed potential outcomes, but were inconclusive. However, the qualitative results revealed that a majority of the participants reported gaining knowledge about science and conservation, and that about a quarter of them reported psychological benefits from participating, such as feeling that they were able to give back to their community through the project. These results document the potential positive impacts that participation in ecological restoration projects can help promote well-being and community involvement, and to increase science knowledge from all participants. The results also reinforce the importance of collaborations between scientists who use quantitative and qualitative approaches and analytical tools, which, when combined, provide the capacity to measure, analyze, and interpret data from human participants. These considerations should be further explored with collaborations of natural scientists, social scientists, corrections staff, and people who are incarcerated as ecological restoration projects in correctional institutions become more prevalent.

Impacts of conservation activities on people who are incarcerated: a case study based on qualitative and quantitative analyses

Prisons are in some significant respects similar to planetary stations. Their occupants live within a social environment that is confined, takes on its own culture with a strong interdependence and camaraderie between individuals, and contains within it huge latent talents in art, science, engineering, and other disciplines. Recognizing this potential, the Life Beyond project involves the prison population in designing settlements for the Moon and Mars. Involving ∼160 prisoners in Scotland, the project has led to two published books presenting strategies for the settlement of the Moon and Mars. Building on this, a set of course materials was devised for any prisoner anywhere to contribute ideas and plans for the human exploration and settlement of space. Here, we describe this project, the methods used, and the results. In addition to improving educational opportunities in prisons through space science and elements of astrobiology, the project demonstrates the potential for prisoners to contribute to space settlement by applying their experience of the prison space analog environment.

Planning the Human Future Beyond Earth with the Prison Population: The Life Beyond Project.

The Sustainability in Prisons Project is a partnership founded by the Washington State Department of Corrections (WDOC) and The Evergreen State College (Evergreen). Our mission is to bring science and nature into prisons. We conduct ecological research and conserve biodiversity by forging collaborations with scientists, inmates, prison staff, students, and community partners. Equally important, we help reduce the environmental, economic, and human costs of prisons by inspiring and informing sustainable practices (LeRoy et al. 2012).

A Case Study: Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) Horticulture Programs

The incarcerated population has little or no access to science education programs, STEM resources, or scientists. We explored the effects of a low-cost, potentially high-impact informal science edu...

Effects of Astrobiology Lectures on Knowledge and Attitudes about Science in Incarcerated Populations.

Fifty kilometers northeast of Seattle, Washington, staff and inmates at the Monroe Correctional Complex made plans for a “worm farm,” a composting program that would provide education and training while mitigating the institution’s $65,000 annual expense for food waste disposal. This simple idea ballooned in ambition and scale due to the energy and charisma of an inmate in the program. He engaged with leading experts in vermiculture (breeding worms) and vermicomposting, asked for investment in scientific resources and equipment, and fostered a program culture of education and outreach.

Sustainability Education in Prisons: Transforming Lives, Transforming the World

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A Case Study: Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) Horticulture Programs

Effects of Astrobiology Lectures on Knowledge and Attitudes about Science in Incarcerated Populations.

Sustainability Education in Prisons: Transforming Lives, Transforming the World