"Though I do not believe that a plant will spring up where no seed has been, I have great faith in a seed. Convince me you have a
seed there, and I am
prepared to expect wonders."
— Henry David Thoreau
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the Insight Garden Program and how do participants benefit?
The Insight Garden Program (IGP) is a rehabilitation program that provides vocational gardening and life skills to prisoners. By working in nature, participants learn to re-connect to themselves as well as develop a larger understanding of their connection to and impact on the world around them so they become productive members of society.
- IGP provides inmates with practical gardening and landscaping skills on a 1,200-square foot garden in a prison yard so they can find meaningful work after release.
- Through class facilitation and experiential contact with nature, IGP helps inmates develop interpersonal qualities of responsibility, discipline, and mindfulness, so they learn to respond rather than react.
- When vocational skills are combined with life skills, program participants gain self respect, pride in their work, and develop a higher level of functioning so they can break the cycle of incarceration.
What benefits will the results of this program have on society?
Effective rehabilitation programs can lessen the financial AND social burdens on society and begin to heal the divides that surround us.
- The current CDCR 2009-10 proposed fiscal budget of almost $10 billion could be reduced with effective rehabilitation programs, potentially saving millions of dollars in taxpayer's money.
- By helping to break the ongoing cycle of incarceration (approximately 70% of men return after three years of release), the IGP helps to restore former prisoners' lives, families and communities.
- Ultimately, successful rehabilitation represents a "tough on crime" approach as people leave prison more capable of living functional, productive lives — with less chance for committing new crimes — hence increasing public safety.
What differentiates the IGP from other rehabilitation programs?
By using a collaborative approach to class facilitation and key stakeholder engagement, the IGP helps foster collective care, diversity, and cultural education inside and outside the prison walls.
- Underlying program administration is the philosophy that the development of awareness of self and beyond self is key to contributing to healthier communities.
- Diversity is both a core element and result of the IGP. Not only are all ethnic groups equally represented in the classroom, but the garden is the ONLY non-segregated area of the prison yard, transcending the traditional racial segregation of prisons.
- The IGP fosters cultural education by inviting the volunteers, guest speakers, and financial supporters into the prison to interact with inmates and experience classes. By unraveling pre-existing stereotypes about prisoners and prison, visitors become "ambassadors" for our work on all levels.
IGP also is one of the only researched rehabilitation programs in San Quentin. A study to determine "The Impact of a Garden on the Physical Environment and Socials Climate of a Prison Yard" was conducted as part of the program director's graduate degree in organization development (see PDF file, Thesis Abstract).
Who makes up the IGP?
IGP is made up of a dedicated core of volunteers, guest speakers and community supporters who believe that nature can serve as a vehicle for transformation.
- All key program volunteers and guests understand that our human and ecological systems are deeply interconnected, and that principles of the natural world are transferable to all levels of human systems.
- Guest speakers have included a wide variety of gardening experts, systems thinkers and environmentalists who provide theoretical or experiential insights into the natural world, including: local gardeners and landscapers; ecological authors and systems theorists; spiritual leaders and strategic thinkers on issues of environmental sustainability.
Has the IGP been successful?
The present gauge of success is the personal transformations of class participants, their knowledge of gardening and the natural world, and the garden's impact on the physical environment and social climate of the prison yard.
- Quantitative determinants of success also depend on the ability to measure the impact of the program through research on program participants' recidivism rates, an effort currently underway.
Class participants and Kevin Sadlier of Green Jeans Garden Supply apply organic fertilizers.
"Now that I can better nurture a plant and care for the environment, let me apply those same principles to myself for my own growth
and purity —
let us not pollute the earth with chemicals, nor ourselves with impurities."
— James, former prisoner
Photo by John Kokoska.