Florida Prison Farmworker Programs Fruitful For State, Inmates
August 6, 2015 Citing success, University of Florida is bolstering its programs that allow inmates to work on university farms.
According to UF/IFAS, at the West Florida Research and Education Center in Jay, FL, prisoners produced nearly $1 million of fresh produce that fed hundreds of needy families and saved the state money. Under the supervision of correction officer Randy Dozier, prisoners work a 10-acre plot of land at the 640-acre research facility. Inmates grow sweet corn, collards, snap peas, tomatoes, cantaloupes, watermelons and squash.
“They spend seven hours a day learning about farming, how to check for diseases on plants, how to identify insects and other skills,” Dozier said.
Southwest Florida Research and Education Center (SWFREC) in Immokalee, Gulf Coast Research and Education Center (GCREC) in Balm, and the Plant Science Research and Education Unit (PSREU) in Citra have partnerships with local prisons to work at their facilities.
The GCREC employs a squad of 15 inmates from the Hardee Correctional Institution through the Community Work Squad Program. The inmates work four, six-hour days a week at a rate of $2 per hour, said Gary Vallad, GCREC associate director. “They perform tasks vital for the production of ornamentals, vegetables and small fruit crops; tasks such as land preparation, planting, thinning, staking and tying, harvesting, and clean-up at the end of the season,” he said.
Also, inmates assist with the environmental horticulture research and Extension projects at the center, provide labor for small construction projects and help maintain the grounds at the research center, Vallad said. “We donate produce every season to the Hardee Correctional Institute,” he said.
PSREU developed a partnership with the Marion County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO) and started out with two inmates. Currently, the county sends one deputy with 24 male inmates and a deputy with 10 female inmates daily to work in Citra, said James Boyer, coordinator of research programs at UF/IFAS. And costs for meals at the prison have dropped significantly because of the addition of produce grown at Citra.
“Before this program, the MCSO meal cost was approximately $1.27 per inmate per meal and we are helping to reduce that cost to $0.51 per meal,” Boyer said. “With up to 2,000 inmates in our local jail, it is a substantial savings to the public.”
An eight-man crew of prisoners from the Ortiz Work Camp in Fort Myers works every Friday at SWFREC, said John Dunckelman, coordinator of research programs at SWFREC. Additional crews come at harvest time, to help with destruction and tear-out of finished crops, to aid in maintenance and management of ditches, roads, fire breaks, and woods, he said.
Prisoners enjoy seeing the results of their hard work, and the state saves money, said Douglas “John” Sloan, warden of the Century Correctional Institution in Escambia County. “The program benefits the prison by bringing in healthy food and lowering the amount of money we spend on food that we purchase for prisoners. The food is healthy and locally grown, so we can substitute the processed foods with the farm foods.”
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