‘Use this time to better yourself’: Women inmates plant garden at Utah State Prison

SALT LAKE CITY — In the Utah State Prison in the middle of the hot, dusty concrete complex, the women inmates are planting a garden.

“A lot of girls have been working hard and pushing hard to have something like this,” inmate Kassie Tolman said.

The garden is a community space where women who have proven they can manage themselves can spend their free time. Facility staff hope the garden will help women develop skills and improve mental health.

“When we’re able to do stuff together, it brings down violence, drug issues and helps people be sober,” Tolman said. “Whatever I can do to get involved, I do it.”

On Friday, dozens of women rolled up sod and loaded it onto trucks, making way for compost, trees, lavender and vegetables. They sat under canopies with bottles of water when they needed a break. Some women chased after a small vole they had unearthed with their shovels.

Read the full story and more from Emma Everett on KSL.com.

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