South Carolina prison becomes first in U.S. to grow food with vertical farm

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WIS) - A South Carolina women’s prison has become the first correctional facility in the country to grow its own food using a vertical farm.

Fourteen inmates at the Camille Graham Correctional Institution help transplants grow into full heads of lettuce. The opportunity provides agricultural experience and a chance at a new beginning.

“To be within these walls and have this type of opportunity--it’s awesome,” an inmate said.

The women’s facility has been operating a vertical farm since January. It’s the first of its kind inside a U.S. prison.

Inmates rotate through the program, spending time in both the classroom and the farm. They learn how to grow plants along with food safety and workforce readiness skills—tools aimed at helping them succeed in life after prison.

The program is inspiring inmates to pursue careers in agriculture after they have served their time.

“I almost want to say you have to be in this position to understand the depth of what a program like this inside a correctional institution means, but the names (of the programs that put together this project) match. Impact Justice, Growing Justice, Fresh Start, all those things totally make sense because this is a correctional institution, and these programs are making it to where these are things that are able to correct the behaviors and the things that cause us all to come here so that we don’t come back,” an inmate said.

The inmates’ setup includes seven pods with nurseries and coolers using hydroponics, a farming method that doesn’t require soil. Instead, it uses water to give plants nutrients.

The facility is currently growing lettuce, but the system can also grow other produce, such as bell peppers and tomatoes.

South Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers said the method speeds up the process.

“The variables that I would have growing the same crop out in conventional methods--they’re lessening the variables and making it more constant. You can produce the equivalent of 30 acres worth and be able to grow all year round,” Weathers said.

The vertical farm system is set to produce 40,000 pounds of produce each year and will be used within the prison’s cafeteria.

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