Growing Food and Harvesting Hope at the Kane County Jail

There's something about getting your hands in the soil.

At the Kane County Corrections facility, a garden is providing select female detainees with an opportunity to do just that, while growing fresh food for people in need and creating a place where encouragement can take root.

Detainees earn the opportunity to participate in the garden through positive behavior while in custody. Working alongside volunteers from the Geneva Garden Club, they learn how to plant, care for and harvest vegetables and flowers.

And what they grow is put to good use.

This summer, the gardeners and Geneva Garden Club volunteers have donated more than 350 pounds of tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, lettuce, kale and herbs to the Batavia Interfaith Food Pantry.  There are also flower beds and a mural is going up on the back wall of the garden area with the help of retired St. Francis High School Art Teacher, Tia Holinger.  The design was created by the female detainees and will be completed by them as well. 

But the effort is about much more than the harvest.

Kane County Connects recently spoke with Geneva Garden Club Vice President in charge of Community Outreach Deb Hall-Reppen, who said the time spent in the garden often leads to conversations and memories that might not otherwise be shared.

“They share memories of their moms, grandmothers and aunts," Hall-Reppen said.

That became particularly evident during a recent conversation about cooking the collard greens growing in the garden. One of the women shared a family recipe, describing how it was prepared to the delight of everyone working alongside her.

“It's those kinds of moments that make the garden special," Hall-Reppen said.

Hall-Reppen is joined by a team of volunteers that include Pam Cabeen, Tammy Chiovari, Gail Davidson, Cheryl Giesen, Lynnaia Haugen, Lynda McGrath, Julie Pease, Judy Richter, and Mary Stavenhagen.

There is also a therapeutic quality to the work that isn't lost on those who participate.

As the women work the soil, nurture the plants and watch their efforts produce something tangible, the garden can offer a sense of purpose and reflection.

The garden has also become a place for celebrating new beginnings.    

Recently, one participant learned that she would be released to a rehabilitation program. Her fellow gardeners gathered around her, celebrating with hugs and happy tears before returning to their work.

The Kane County Jail gardening program has a long history of cultivating both vegetables and life skills.

​The original women's inmate garden began in the 1990s at the Kane County Corrections Complex on Fabyan Parkway. Working with volunteer gardening specialists from the Kane County Unit of University of Illinois Extension, female detainees planted, maintained and harvested vegetables and flowering plants under the supervision of correctional staff.

Today, the garden is located within the secure grounds of the Kane County Jail on the Judicial Center campus.

Learn more about the Kane County Sheriff's Office at https://www.kanesheriff.com/

Learn more about the Geneva Garden Club at https://www.genevagardenclub.com/