Female inmate garden grows self-esteem

It's early morning on an unseasonably warm late September day and Linda Owens has already harvested tomatoes, garlic and green peppers from the garden she helps tend.

"We water it, we pull the weeds, we harvest the vegetables," said the 48-year-old Aurora woman. "I just adore the garden. It's nature, it's helping out."

When her tasks are finished, she won't go out to lunch or shop or just relax at her home.

She's going back to jail.

Owens is just one of dozens of women inmates who have been part of a joint project between the Kane County Department of Corrections and the University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener program that began about ten years ago.

Volunteer master gardeners instruct women inmates on tending the large vegetable patch located near the old Kane County jail on Fabyan Parkway and Raddant Road in Geneva.

From spring until fall, the women learn about readying the soil, planting, fertilizing, weeding and harvesting. No pesticides are used.

When the cabbages, tomatoes, brussel sprouts, peppers, squash and other crops are ready, the women do the harvesting, then wheel the produce to the nearby farm stand. The farm stand is on the road that leads to the old jail and its blue and white canopy is clearly visible from Fabyan Parkway. Volunteers who are master gardeners sell the produce and the proceeds go to the nonprofit master gardener program, and to local charities.

"This is a volunteer project," said Carolyn Gordon of Batavia, a master gardener who was working at the farm stand on a recent weekday morning. The stand is open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays into October. "Master gardeners plan the garden and instruct the girls on planting the crops. They (the inmates) do all the manual labor."

Stephanie Runzel, 22, of Elgin, had just helped Owens and another inmate bring the day's harvest to the stand. She's new to the work.

"I wanted to help," she said. "I feel like I'm giving back to the community. It's better than just sitting around doing nothing. When I was growing up I helped plant flowers in my Mom's yard. It's a nice thing to learn. And it's an opportunity to come outside."

"I'm ecstatic to be outside," said an inmate who preferred not to give her name. "It's a breath of fresh air. It makes doing your time easier. You appreciate things more when you're incarcerated."

The women earn phone cards and soft drinks through their work. They can also eat the tomatoes as they pick them, and when the morning's work is done, they mash their newly picked tomatoes with their home grown garlic to create a salsa they enjoy with chips.

Corrections officer Yolanda Rodriquez, who supervises the garden detail, believes there are more significant benefits.

"They learn tools like how to get up and get ready for work, they learn to work together as a team," said Rodriquez, who has been in charge of the garden for three years. "It builds self-esteem. They sweat, they get their fingers in the dirt. They're giving back to the community."

Customers appreciate it, too.

"It's been wonderful to have this farm stand," said Nancy Brown of Batavia, who stops every week. "My husband is from Nebraska and he said the corn I bought here was the best he ever ate. I buy vegetables here for my neighbor. It's a hidden treasure."

Steady customers will be glad to know that the program will continue with a garden and a farm stand next season on the grounds of the new correctional facility at the courthouse complex on Route 38 in St. Charles.