gardening in the community
“I came away with a somewhat anxious feeling as this was a new experience for me, but one in which I was excited to participate.”
I had been invited to meet with Tom Martin, Head of Offender Outcomes at HMP Perth, about a possible collaboration between the prison and the Animals, Land, and Environment team at Dundee and Angus College in relation to employability skills of prisoners nearing the end of their sentence. It is hoped that teaching new skills to prisoners could reduce reoffending rates after their release.
The idea was to facilitate the learning of practical skills for the landscaping and horticulture sector, and on completion of a set of outcomes, participants would gain a Dundee and Angus College Certificate which could then be used to gain employment on release.
I must confess I was a little intimidated by the thought of going inside the prison, but my colleague Laura and I duly left behind our phones, showed our passports, and removed our belts and shoes before going through the airport style security gate of one of Scotland’s maximum-security prisons. Perth Prison is a Category A prison, meaning it houses some of the most dangerous and high-risk individuals in the country.
The prison was originally a depot for French prisoners during the Napoleonic wars and remains the oldest working prison in Scotland. There was a distinct coldness to the prison grounds: nothing but tar, concrete, stone and metal, and a lack of anything green, colourful, or flowery.
Having been escorted through three sets of imposing electrified steel gates, we reached the proposed project site situated in a corner of the prison which is out of sight, behind a wash house and used solely as a storage area for waste management. Old food waste bins and general debris lay in piles across one side of the area, on the only piece of level ground which also happened to be in shade for half of the day, which is not exactly ideal for growing a garden.
On the other side of the space, there was a steep grassy slope, again not ideal for growing a garden, but I did notice that someone had made a large, raised bed at the top of the bank from old railway sleepers with the odd patch of tatties poking through the soil. It turned out a couple of staff members had been trying their hand at vegetable growing, without too much luck. There was though a glimmer of hope as the raised bed was situated in the only part of the space to receive full sun, all day.
We discussed the desired objectives for the partnership, and after agreeing to take on the role as facilitator, the Landscape Academy was born, a collaboration that would help HMP Perth become the leading employability prison in Scotland and hopefully show that even the toughest of men could become green fingered.
My colleague Laura had been successful in her funding bid through the Perth Council UKSPF Fund to enable me to set up the course based on an initial two ten-week blocks, although the course had proved so successful that an extension of five weeks was granted by the funder for the second block. My role was to develop a programme of hands-on landscaping and horticultural activities and deliver a course which could increase the participants likelihood of employability, or to function as a pathway into further education.
There was an overwhelming interest in the course with at least 67 prisoners putting their names forward for just eight places. Due to this high number of applicants, the prison decided that prisoners had to apply as if it were for a job, with only the keenest and most well-suited applicants accepted.
As no electronic devices were allowed into the prison, I created a workbook to use as a teaching tool with a breakdown of what would be covered each week. Our topics were Basic Knowledge of Horticulture, Plant Biology and Taxonomy, Plant Propagation Techniques, Soil Science and Plant Nutrition, Plant Health and Pest Management, Greenhouse Management, Landscape Design and Maintenance, Ornamental Horticulture, Fruit and Vegetable Production, and Sustainable Horticulture Practices.
These areas I hoped would equip the participants with the basic skills necessary to cultivate a variety of plants and manage garden spaces effectively, perhaps even encouraging them to pursue further education or help towards a career in the horticulture.
The building of the garden was not without its challenges, but seven months later, that disused and forgotten space behind the wash house has been transformed into a beautifully functioning garden which benefits both prisoners and staff. The garden was officially opened by Deputy Governor Lillian Burns as a therapeutic space to educate and help improve the mental health of the user.
Find out more in the next issue of Scotland Grows Magazine about how David delivered this transformative project and the positive effect it had on prisoners. You can follow David meantime on Instagram.