Green prison programmes, recidivism and mental health: A primer

Although the USA has the largest prison population in the world, most prison rehabilitation programmes have been criticised for lacking any demonstrable efficacy, ultimately ‘having no appreciable effect on recidivism’ (Lipton et al., 1975, p. 25). Yet, since the 1990s, prisons around the USA have witnessed the growth of so-called green prison programmes. Prominent examples of such initiatives include the Insight Garden Program (IGP) administered in the San Quentin, California (CA) State Prison, The Garden Project in San Francisco, CA, the Sustainability in Prisons initiative administered throughout Washington State prisons, the Sandusky County Jail Gardening program in Ohio and perhaps most notably, the ‘GreenHouse’ (GH) program in Riker’s Island, New York City. While variations exist, ‘green’ prison programmes essentially provide a form of eco-therapy to prisoners – which is prescribed physical and psychological therapy through nature-based methods administered by trained professionals. Participation in these programmes usually involves engaging in gardening and horticultural activities such as landscaping, cultivating plants, green roof gardening and learning about environmental stewardship and caring for nature and animals. Many of these programmes also provide basic vocational education, practice mindfulness and teach prisoners social skills, such as how to work effectively with others (Jiler, 2006). These programmes should be a focal point of interest to both research and public policy for two outcomes: (1) low recidivism rates and (2) improved mental health. Self-published recidivism rates of graduates of green prison programmes are exceptionally low, ranging between 10% and 24% depending on the specific programme (Gilbert, 2012). Unfortunately, the data underlying these numbers are often not made public. They come mainly from internal programme evaluations based on small and self-selected samples that often have no clearly