Dolores J. Baylor Women's Correctional Institution Garden
"A Garden of Hope: A Place for Peace"
Location: 660 Baylor Boulevard, New Castle DE
Fast Facts
Type: Vegetable & Flower Garden
Created: 1999
“It represents starting over, getting rid of the old dying parts of oneself that are not healthy, in order to plant new seeds, establish strong roots, and blossom and flourish abundantly, both on the inside and on the outside.”
– Program Participant |
History: Initiated by the vision of Jean Dugdale and the Delaware Department of  Education (DOE), this garden, with eight raised beds and a 30 by 80 foot plot, produces an abundance of fresh, organic vegetables and is attractively bordered by perennial and annual plantings. Complimenting the prison’s Culinary Arts vocational program, volunteers from the Garden Club of Wilmington partner with staff from the Delaware Center for Horticulture to provide weekly workshops that teach the women the “full food cycle;” from selecting, planting and growing vegetables to harvesting and preparing them in the kitchen.
Impact: Through their outdoor labor, the 20 women who participate each year learn job skills and technical training. They also find physical and emotional relief, stress and anger reduction, exercise, the availability of nutritious foods and the development of teamwork and responsibility. In 2006, the women decided to name the garden “A Garden of Hope: A Place for Peace.” Across the country, similar prison horticulture programs have shown dramatic declines in the number of inmates who return to prison after having been released. |
