19 December 2018
Vegetables and herbs grown at La Moye are being used to supply a charity café as part of a number of prison initiatives that are benefitting the community.
Most of the produce is grown for the prison kitchen but any surplus is donated to Beresford Street Kitchen, which provides training and employment for people with learning difficulties and autism.
Prisoners are also growing trees and seeds for Jersey Trees for Life, a charity which provides protection for and education about island trees. The prison has produced more than 5,000 trees for the charity over the past ten years. The latest batch of trees has recently been collected and is being used to support the Jersey Hedgerow Campaign in St Brelade and St Peter.
Additionally, a surplus of 20 poinsettias grown at the prison – the only place in the Channel Islands that cultivates the houseplant – have recently been donated to Jersey Hospice.
In the spring, staff in the SOJPS are planning to work with Caring Cooks, a charity that promotes healthy eating in island schools, by supplying young vegetables that can be grown by schoolchildren.
Steve De Carteret, Horticultural Manager in SOJPS, said: “We are delighted to be collaborating with these charities as we explore more ways in which the work undertaken by prisoners can benefit the island. It is important that we continue to find opportunities to work with members of our community as part of the prison’s restorative justice programme. It means that prisoners are not only working towards a qualification, which can be useful when they are released from prison, but are able to make a positive contribution to the island while they are at La Moye.”
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