Video: Monroe Jailhouse Veggie Garden

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ABERDEEN, Miss.(WCBI)-We are well into the Summer and folks are out and about in their vegetable gardens. R. H. Brown, who has a well-documented green thumb, continues his trek, through North Mississippi in search of fresh produce.  This time he went to jail. In a Monroe County field, kind of large for a typical vegetable garden, inmates are making the best of a bad situation by growing things.

“Got peas, okra, corn, tomatoes, just a lot of stuff that’s going to be good this winter to eat,” said Cecil Cantrell, Sheriff.

The good use of outdoor inmate labor should bring a smile to taxpayers.

“Well, it saves a lot of money for the county, feeding these inmates. We have some big freezers that we fill up, walk in freezers. We usually fill two of those up. And it takes us right on through the winter, said Cantrell.

To feed an inmate it takes almost four dollars a day, planting and harvesting veggies at the jail cuts the daily meal cost to about a dollar and a half. According to Sheriff Cantrell, working the earth instils a sense of pride and accomplishment.

“They think, well they are paying their own way a little bit you know. And it, its a good thing. Its a real good thing, it builds character,” said Cantrell.

When the inmates reap the jailhouse harvest, they should be healthier and the county’s wallet a little bit fatter. This is the second year Monroe County inmates have been planting and harvesting vegetables at that location.

Categories: Crime, Local News

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