Abstract
This chapter presents the findings from an evaluation of the Master Gardener Programme, a horticultural intervention with substance-misusing men in prison, undertaken by an inter-disciplinary research team from Coventry University. The Master Gardener Programme, led by Garden Organic, ‘the UK’s leading organic charity’, was initially launched nationally as a pilot community programme in 2010. The extension of the programme from a community to a prison setting was in recognition of research evidence (national and international) that showed a range of positive outcomes associated with the role of horticulture in supporting physical, emotional, behavioural and social wellbeing. Here, we focus on the impact of the programme on health and well-being and reflect on gardening as an embodied practice and the garden as a space that promotes humanisation and self-worth, community and a connection to nature.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
Counselling, Assessment, Referral, Advice and Through care worker.
- 3.
82,683 21st June 2019. https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/prison-population-figures-2019.
- 4.
Ministry of Justice (2012) Estimating the prevalence of disability amongst prisoners: results from the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) survey, London: Ministry of Justice.
- 5.
Ministry of Justice (2013) Gender differences in substance misuse and mental health amongst prisoners, London: Ministry of Justice.
- 6.
Wiles, N., et al. (2006) Self-reported psychotic symptoms in the general population, The British Journal of Psychiatry, 188: 519–526.
- 7.
Ministry of Justice (2013) Gender differences in substance misuse and mental health amongst prisoners, London: Ministry of Justice.
- 8.
Pratt, D. Piper, M, Appleby, L. Webb, R. Shaw, J. Suicide in recently released prisoners: a population-based cohort study, The Lancet—Vol. 368, Issue 9530, 8 July 2006.
- 9.
Ministry of Justice (2013) Gender differences in substance misuse and mental health amongst prisoners, Results from the Surveying Prisoner Crime Reduction (SPCR) longitudinal cohort study of prisoners, London: Ministry of Justice.
- 10.
Ibid.
- 11.
The remaining P2 participants identified as Irish (21%), Indian (7%), Gypsy or Irish Traveller (7%), and White and Black Caribbean (7%).
- 12.
Participant in Phase 1 (P1); Participant in Phase 2 (P2).
- 13.
As part of the MG programme, participants also get additional access to the gym.
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Brown, G., Bos, E., Brady, G. (2021). Building Health and Wellbeing in Prison: Learning from the Master Gardener Programme in a Midlands Prison. In: Maycock, M., Meek, R., Woodall, J. (eds) Issues and Innovations in Prison Health Research. Palgrave Studies in Prisons and Penology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-46401-1_7
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