For Women in an Arkansas Correctional Center, A Garden Offers Skills and Hope

The Roots 2 Reentry Program at the East Central Arkansas Community Correction Center offers women at the facility an opportunity to learn gardening and agricultural skill through weekly lessons and hands on work, as well as prepare them for life after their release. About 25 women have participated and have harvested more than 2,500 pounds of fresh produce from a quarter-acre garden planted in March. The program is a partnership between the facility and the Crittenden County Extension Office. Katrina Wallace, the agriculture natural resources agent at the Crittenden County extension office, explains the program can benefit women in the correction center by teaching life skills, provides a sense of community within the facility, and even hope for life outside of the facility.