In October, 29 participants from different prison establishments met online for the local round table in Portugal. In presence, at the Cascais Ambiente headquarters, the team from Cascais Ambiente led the meeting, the two colleagues who work daily at the vegetable garden in Tires Female Prison and two representatives from the Competence Center for Stimulating Economic and Labor Activities from the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services were also there.
The meeting started with a brief presentation from each participant, who marked their presence by representing several prison establishments from all over the country, from north to south, from directors to guards presented themselves showing their interest in this subject and the relevance of the EcoFarms4Prisons project.
During the presentation, the 21 participants described the different characteristics of the 12 prison establishments represented in terms of size, number and type of inmates, working activities where the inmates are involved, and in particular the agricultural and animal activities developed inside the prison.
After that Cascais Ambiente project was presented briefly, followed by a presentation of the EcoFarms4Prisons project and activities.
Right away the participants were invited to name 3 key words for the major challenges and opportunities of farming in prisons and interesting inputs were collected.
Most of the people working directly inside the prisons reported that lack of manpower, training and technical support are the biggest challenges they face in their jobs, something already raised in the national report about the situation in the Portuguese prisons.
Capacity building of the prison staff and increasing the overall sustainability inside the prison were pointed out as the biggest opportunities for farming in prisons.
Finally, the participants all agreed that mental health improvement is the major advantage of improving agricultural practices in prisons.
After sharing their opinions with their peers, the attendants were introduced to the proposal of the curriculum for the future vocational training course tailored to prison educators to teach prisoners organic and sustainable farming methods.
The participants were then divided into small groups in order to discuss and give their feedback. Although the insights were very positive, most of them reported that the time to give feedback was short.
Cascais Ambiente team thanked everyone for attending and invited all to follow the developments of EcoFarms4Prisons.
A few days later the representative of the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services collected the inputs and sent them to be reported. The inputs received were very valuable such as including the production of perennial crops (olives, vineyard, fruit trees), typical of Mediterranean cultures, or creative inputs as including video presentations with testimonies from employers and ex-prisoners working in organic farming, they also mention the importance of soft skills, benefits from social agriculture and job opportunities after leaving.
The local round tables proved to be a great initiative, as the discussion between peers from different contexts and realities but from the same country in their languages opened up an opportunity to enrich the debate and collect valuable inputs for the EcoFarms4Prisons project.
