Inmates growing their own food in Kalamazoo Co.

KALAMAZOO COUNTY, Mich. (NEWSCHANNEL 3) – Early release from jail is used by many county lock-ups to save money and ease overcrowding. Sometimes jails also have to ship inmates to other facilities, which can cost thousands of dollars a day.

In an effort to save money, some sheriff's departments are getting creative.

Kalamazoo County's jail is seeing a garden party, and they're saying that going green could save some green.

The words Kalamazoo County Jail and garden usually don't go together, but the new sheriff has allowed a garden to be run by inmates on the jail grounds.

"Primarily the work is being done by the trusties, the residents here, the inmates of the jail," said Grace Anne Kalafut, Director of Community Corrections. "The whole effort will save money, but it's also teaching some skills to the inmates, the inmates have been incredibly excited to be out here."

So, exactly how much could the jail save if all the food grown in the garden were added to inmate meals.

"This is about an eighth of an acre, so we could produce about a ton of food off of it," said Mark Thomas of MSU Extension. "A ton, each family would eat about 400 pounds of vegetables, so it would be the equivalent of feeding five families."

Five families could equal a few dozen inmates, but the vegetables would be spread to all.

In 2008, the jail served 365,000 inmate meals at about 68 to 70 cents per meal. That adds up to nearly $250,000 annually, so even if the garden saves five or ten percent of the cost, which is what the sheriff would like to see, it would be a significant savings.

The partners who helped to establish the garden hope to expand and somehow grow year round, which would incur even bigger savings.

For now, the hope is that the inmates grow enough to add to their meals.

"The inmates are learning a skill and as they're learning that and also showing the incentive here, I have indicated that I would help them find a job in the greenhouse industry," said Kalafut.

The sheriff has said he'd like to open up a second garden within a few years.