Kingsley prison grows tons of food for poor

(photo: Shelley & Dave via Flickr.com)

Pugsley Correctional Facility, the 1158 bed minimum security state prison near Kingsley, generated over 18,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables for local food banks during the 2008 growing season on just 1.3 acres. The program cost the state next to nothing, according to prison officials and is looking to expand next year.

“You read through the newspaper and you see this family is homeless, this place is going out of business,” explained Eric Smith, administrative assistant to the warden. The gardening project at Pugsley was created to address these economic hard times, he said.

The program grew more than 20 different kinds of crops, from broccoli to zucchini, which were cultivated by 45 inmates. The prison employees club and the prisoner benefits fund, which is administered by prisoners, donated money to cover the costs of seeds and other expenses, and a coalition of local non-profit groups coordinated distribution of the produce to over 20 food pantries in the five-county region.

“Data from local food banks show that 150,434 were serviced by our goods,” Smith said.

Camp Pugsley

Response to the gardening program has been strong, and it seems to be meeting a deep need. Layoffs, foreclosures, and price increases have driven more people into poverty. The Goodwill Inn homeless shelter in Traverse City, one of the groups that received produce from Pugsley, reports a 285 percent increase in need over the last four months.

And as lean times have spread, people are making fewer charitable donations to food banks. Smith estimated that the fair market value of the prison’s produce this year was $11,761.43.

“For us its been a huge blessing, because it cuts down on expenses,” said Sarah Mazis, director of operations and education at House of Hope, a private Christian residential program for troubled teens near Traverse City.

“We saw our food prices go up 23 percent in six months. We are privately funded, so the food donations have helped us keep our costs down and helped cut down on pressure of expenses for families.”

“The Pugsley program has helped us get fresh food,“ Mazis said. “The abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables has been great for kids’ health.”

“This is such a great service, it would be hard not to do it now,“ Smith said. “There are plans for expansion, but it’s not clear yet where we would expand to. God doesn’t make ground anymore — we need to find where there are good areas to plant food.”

The sandy soil around the prison camp was enriched this year with the help of a local construction company that delivered top soil for free.

Michigan State University agricultural extension agent Duke Elsner served as an advisor to the project and said the prison did a tremendous job with the project.

“They succeeded beyond the original goals for the year, thanks to a few timely rains here and there. I don’t know if they used hoses.” Hoses were originally banned as a security risk, he explained.

Elsner said he believes the project will be 50 percent larger next year.

“We are taking soil samples and discussing things that they could do — different kinds of vegetables, moisture conservation efforts.”

Elsner said that the prison will begin preparing for its expanded gardening program this January with a 12-week Master Gardener class open to inmates and prison employees alike.

Inmate tending Camp Pugsley

Private donations and contributions from the prisoner benefits fund — money generated from commissary sales — will cover most of the costs of the gardening class. Prisoners and/or their families will be asked to contribute $100 for the course.

“We wanted to make sure that they bought into it,” Elsner said. “They get a lot out of it.”