Therapeutic Gardening in Incarcerated Settings in the USA

This chapter offers a snapshot of existing facilitated therapeutic horticultural initiatives in incarcerated settings in the USA and highlights the voices of prison garden facilitators based on an analysis of expert interviews with individuals who facilitate therapeutic gardening in prison and reentry contexts. Perspectives from the prison garden grounds are interwoven with existing peer-reviewed research evaluating prison garden projects. Research has emerged around two central questions: the benefits of prison horticulture for incarcerated people and if and how prison gardens might contribute to the reduction of recidivism. While the field of prison garden research generally is in its infancy, literature on gardens behind bars for women is particularly scant. This chapter demonstrates just how diverse, fluid, and expansive the therapeutic prison garden landscape is, and in conclusion, introduces an emerging scholar–practitioner network as an entry point for interested readers and potential future prison gardeners.