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Pasco inmates using hydroponics to grow food

News Channel 8 photo by WALLY PATANOW

Robert Johnson, 21, picks romaine lettuce in the hydroponic garden of the Land O' Lakes Jail.

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By LISA A. DAVIS | The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 25, 2009

LAND O' LAKES - Robert Johnson hands move quickly as he strips Romaine lettuce leaves off the plant, dropping them into a plastic bin.

He doesn't waste time or energy bending over to pick up the bin; instead he slides it with his foot from plant to plant. The sweltering heat this morning didn't seem to bother him. It beats the alternative, he says.

Johnson, 21, is an inmate at the Land O' Lakes Jail but instead of simply counting the days until he's released after violating his probation on a grand-theft charge, he's working in the jail's gardens.

"It's a lot better than being cooped up in jail," he says. "It's little bit more of freedom out here."

"Out here" is acreage at the jail complex off U.S. 41, also known as Land O' Lakes Boulevard. As part of the detention unit's inmate labor programs, jail staff runs hydroponic gardens, a regular soil garden, an ornamental plant garden and a swine and cattle program. Today, Sheriff Bob White showed off the programs to the media, local dignitaries, community activists and other law enforcement officers.

Just two months ago, the hydroponics operation went back online. An EF 1 tornado ripped through the jail complex on Dec. 16, 2007, and among other things, destroyed the hydroponic garden. It cost about $36,000 to repair the 72-by-95-foot greenhouse which now has rows upon rows of crisp lettuce thriving in the hot, summer sun.

The program uses two hydroponic systems with one yielding 460 heads of lettuce daily, saving the agency more than $119,000. The other yields about 2,000 heads of Rex lettuce and saves the agency about $2,848 yearly.

The agricultural program provides the agency with a 3-acre conventional garden farmed by inmates. So far this year, it has produced 77,158 pounds of produce.

The swine program also provides good eats for inmates. In 2008, it yielded 10,244 pounds of processed pork, a savings of more than $13,000. Currently there are 120 pigs on the farm and so far this year the program has produced 6,325 pounds of meat, saving nearly $16,000. The sheriff's office has an arrangement with the Manatee Sheriff's Office to process its swine.

This year two new programs were started by the detention bureau, raising cattle and growing ornamental plants. Now, 27 cows graze on 45 acres of land at the central Pasco jail complex. They hope to double that number by next year, according to Maj. Brian Head, who oversees jail operations.

Local farmers have donated cows and hay and have offered their expertise to get the program rolling.

The ornamental plant program is set up to spruce up the county grounds but in the future, the hope is to sell plants to the public to help generate funds to sustain and expand the inmate labor programs.

None of the programs use tax dollars, says, sheriff's office spokesman Kevin Doll. They were each started by federal grants and inmate welfare funds.

The bulk of what is produced by these programs stays right at the jail to feed inmates.

"Most of everything we grow out here, we eat up," says Johnson, the inmate. Plants, including ripe tomatoes, squash and green peppers surround him.

"I want to go home, yeah," Johnson concedes, clad in a black-and-white striped uniform. "But it's a privilege to be out here. It really is."

Inmates are selected by good behavior and a desire to get involved, says White. Only non-violent sentenced inmates like Johnson are allowed to participate in this supervised outdoor program and they earn gain time – time cut off their sentence – for the hours they work.

But what they also earn is a sense of pride. And that's the idea, White says.

"I tell people I picked this," Johnson, says about when he goes back inside to the gray walls and brags. "Everything you all are eating, I picked it."

Though Johnson had done some gardening with his grandmother when he was boy, he has honed his skills here doing everything from building the greenhouses, to mixing chemicals to harvesting. And when he gets back on "the outside" he hopes that if he can't find other work, he can find a job in the agricultural field.

"If this can help me out there get a job, then I will take this experience to help," he said.

Reporter Lisa A. Davis can be reached at (727) 815-1083.

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