Agriculture a Door to Freedom
In Portugal there are 49 prison establishments around the country with different characteristics and classified by Security levels and Degrees of complexity in the management.
Credits @André Miguel
In the past, most of the Prison Establishments in Portugal had agricultural and livestock activities, in recent times the General Directorate of Reinsertion and Prison Services has been recovering “which were a hallmark of the Prison Establishments and which were dying”. The objective is “the economic use of the equipment and all the potential assets that the services have” and, at the same time, “trying to ensure that the inmates are occupied for as long as possible and that they receive some money, which gives them greater autonomy and avoids negotiations within the establishment”.
Nowadays 15 prison establishments work with agricultural and livestock activities and 278 inmates, in Open Interior Regime, are involved in this type of activities (4Q of 2022).
The results couldn’t be better for all the parties; the inmates report that it is the best work inside the prison, and it is an opportunity to be in contact with nature and have more freedom inside the walls of the prison. This improvement in well-being is reflected in the reduction of the use of medication such as antidepressants.
In a future perspective, this work gives the inmates skills which will increase job opportunities when they get out of prison.
Besides the inmates, this model promotes the cooperation between inmates and prison staff, improving the relations between them.
In terms of sustainability, socially it contributes to the inclusion of the inmates in society and also helps families in food need, once most of the production is donated to social institutions, economically, obtaining some income makes it possible to dynamize, make new investments and guarantee the continuity of these initiatives and environmentally, as it makes use of abandoned land while promoting good environmental practices, such as organic farming and regenerative methods in most of the cases.
Some of these good examples can be found at Tires female prison establishment, Leiria Young prison establishment, Izeda prison establishment, Torres Novas prison establishment, Pinheiro da Cruz prison establishment.
Photos:
[1] credits @André Miguel[SP1]
[2] Raquel Almeida, Sapo 24, 17.06.2023, Garden without land and an environment that doesn’t feel like a prison. Vertical vegetable garden project unites guards and inmates in Torres Novas – News – SAPO 24
[3] credits @Nuno Pestana
[4] credits @ Daniel Rocha
[5] credits @André Miguel[SP1]
