Could gardening and horticulture be used to rehabilitate prisoners?
When he was a primary school principal working in county Waterford, Joe Conway noticed the rehabilitative effect that tending to a garden had on some of the more unruly pupils.
“On a Friday afternoon, one of the most joyous things these bold boys could do was go out into the garden and get stuck in” Senator Conway said.
“Not all of it was entirely productive or generative of growth, but it really added to the growth of those youngsters who maybe came from the wrong side of the tracks."
The Waterford Senator asked this week if such a system could be put in place in Irish prisons, through a collaboration with our national parks.
He cited an experiment which was carried out at Rikers Island in New York, where a system of gardening and horticulture was developed.
The inmates who showed an interest in participating in the garden and developing themselves as a result, are provided with a pathway to internships in federal national parks around the USA.
A lot was said during the Presidential election campaign about the rehabilitative role that prisons have and the current overcrowding that Irish prisons are facing.
“The big question that is asked is whether prison rehabilitates people” Senator Conway said this week.
“I saw in the newspaper yesterday that it costs €100,000 per annum to keep one prisoner. What if we could divert that money to something more productive like internships or having people released on licence to work in the national parks?.”
"We all realise, no matter how evil or distorted a person’s background has been, that these opportunities would be huge.
"Obviously, we would not have the really bad criminals out there because that would not be safe, but it would not be beyond the knowledge and experience of the people who maintain the prisons to make a good shot at guessing who would be eligible or suitable for these programmes."
