Bossier Sheriff Julian Whittington reports that the inmate farm crew at the Bossier Sheriff’s Office Corrections Facilities has harvested more than 37,000 pounds of vegetables so far this year, food that will be used to feed them and other inmates at the corrections facilities in Plain Dealing.
More than 16,000 pounds of squash, 3,600 pounds of potatoes and 3,500 pounds of cucumbers have already been picked, as well as more than 1,800 ears of corn, 500 cantaloupes and 200 watermelons.
The farm crew is nearly complete with picking of other crops and has yielded thus far more than 12,800 pounds of tomatoes, 900 pounds of okra, and 170 pounds of peppers.
Although the inmate crew planted purple hull peas twice this growing season, there will be no yield of peas because of the excessive amount of rain that washed out the crops.
The “Pea Farm” where the vegetables are grown is located on some 30 acres of land near the Bossier Minimum Security Facility and has been in operation since 1995. Non-violent offenders break the ground, sow the seeds, irrigate and work the fields and harvest the vegetables to produce some of the food that they and other inmates will eat.
In addition to the food supplement, having inmates work for their food keeps them active, and when they are done for the day, they are ready to back to the jail, settle down for an uneventful evening and get rested for the next day.
