Detention Center Garden Cultivates More Than Food

 The garden has provided around 770 pounds of food to the inmates this year while extras go to charities.

This has been the most successful year thus far [for the garden],” Jailer Derran Broyles said.
 

Tomatoes, squash, green beans, zucchini and other vegetables commonly used in meals served at the jail are grown in the garden. A crew of about eight to ten inmates go out, weather permitting, to the garden two to three times a week to work, according to Broyles.
 

“So, the produce we take back to the jail, we wash it, we weigh it and then we turn it over to our food service provider. Our food service provider then, at whatever market rate is the market price for say squash, whatever a pound, they credit us that much per vegetable group,” Broyles said. “It saves the Scott County taxpayers money, because it reduces the cost with the food service provider.”
 

The seeds and plants were provided by local farmers and the community in general.
 

“It’s a community endeavor, I feel like. We get the seeds and plants from the community and it helps the inmates in many ways,” Broyles said.