Prison Farms Around Europe: The Contribution of Social Farming in the Path Towards the Empowerment of Inmates

Social Farming (SF) involves the attribution of a socio-welfare role to agricultural activities. Its application allows to produce benefits for disadvantaged people such as physical and psychic rehabilitation, training and job placement, education, or recreational activities. SF plays a significant role in prison contexts, where agricultural activities are a means to contrast laziness, stigma, marginalization, and prejudice since they allow prisoners to feel closer to civil society and get a sense of usefulness and self-realization. This study aims to analyse the role that SF has in European prisons, focusing on both productive activities and inclusion processes carried out in different contexts. To this end, a qualitative approach was applied that involved desk analysis, online surveys, and interviews which were administered to identified experiences of penal institutes in Europe with agricultural activities. Four prisons in Denmark and two in Sweden were analysed in detail as we interviewed their representatives. Further analysis will involve the inclusion of other European experiences.