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The Iowa Correctional Institute for Women, in Mitchellville is expecting a very good vegetable crop in their garden this year.
Sergeant Corey Gould supervises 24 offenders, who care for the three acre garden. Everything grown is used in the correctional facility's kitchen.
He says so far this year, they've harvested 350 pounds of lettuce, 354 pounds of green beans, 265 pounds of cabbage. The offenders started tomato plants from seed, planting 900 of the plants this year. Their goal is to harvest 4,000 pounds of tomatoes. So far, they've picked 946 pounds of tomatoes.
Gould says, thanks to a grant from Wellmark, they're also building a greenhouse and "hoop" house this fall, to extend the growing season.
The gardening project also involves planting native prairie plant seeds, then harvesting the seed for Polk County Conservation.
Gould says most of the offenders who work in the garden have never had any experience gardening before, but he says they enjoy it.
Working on the lawn and garden is a work assignment, offenders earn 37-cents per hour.