Scottish prison's 'exceptional garden' could help inmates turn their lives around

Gardening is beneficial in many ways (Picture: Scott Barbour)Gardening is beneficial in many ways (Picture: Scott Barbour)
Gardening is beneficial in many ways (Picture: Scott Barbour) | Getty Images
Gardening appears to be good for people’s mental and physical health, and there are even suggestions it can help cut crime

In recent years, there has been growing recognition of beneficial effects of gardening on human health, both mental and physical. GPs have even started ‘prescribing’ gardening for rehabilitation and as a preventative mechanism, and some have opened their own community gardens.

There have also been suggestions that gardening can cut crime, with a study in the US finding that cutting the grass and planting trees on vacant lots helped reduce gun violence in poor neighbourhoods of Philadelphia by nearly 30 per cent.

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So the news that HMP Dumfries has indoor gardens of “exceptional quality” – according to prison inspectors anyway, Monty Don might have other ideas – could be more important than it may seem at first. The gardens were "well beyond anything inspectors have seen" in any other closed prison, the inspection report found.

A prison sentence is a punishment for committing a crime. But it is also a chance for inmates to turn their lives around and stop causing harm to others. A peaceful and pleasant garden seems like just the place for such a life-changing revelation.

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