The butternut squash has outdone itself on this two-year-old organic farm in Northeast Philadelphia. Hundreds of the winter squashes—753 to be exact—are stacked up high in the bed of a gold pickup, but many more await harvesting. Three workers crouch in the green rows surrounded by peach and figs trees, as well as beds that have already in their short lifespans borne eggplant, watermelons, and more. One by one, the workers toss more squash into wheelbarrows.
This small and unusual farm was once a construction site. Its three acres back onto the Pennypack Creek, a winding tributary that empties about a half mile away in the Delaware River. Overlooking the orchard’s entrance is the Philadelphia Industrial Correctional Center, a red brick building surrounded by two layers of barbed wire fencing and light towers. This is a prison farm, and the workers in the rows are inmates from another nearby minimum security facility.
Sustainability has not been a high priority in most prison systems. But in 2011, the National Institute of Corrections began encouraging “the greening of correctional facilities” through actions on energy consumption, waste, and re-use, and offering incarcerated people green job training.
The Washington State Department of Corrections was an early leader on all these fronts with its Sustainability in Prisons Project and, now, sustainability is becoming a reality in Philadelphia, too. These institutions, which didn’t even recycle a decade ago, now boast a state-of-the-art composting system, a farm, and an organic agriculture vocational program through which inmates earn certificates from Temple University.
The benefits are already beginning to show. The office of Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney noted recently that the program diverts 685 tons of food waste a year into compost, saving the city more than $40,000 in landfill costs. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recognized the Philadelphia Prison System in this year’s national Food Recovery Challenge awards.
In September, Kenney awarded the prison department’s sustainability manager Laura Cassidy a prestigious innovation award for her efforts in creating “Philadelphia’s first City-run captive food waste composting program.” And while nothing about this success was inevitable—Cassidy and other have worked to make it happen—it is replicable.
To read the full story, visit http://civileats.com/2016/10/17/philadelphias-prison-system-is-fighting-food-waste-and-recidivism-with-an-organic-farm/.