This spring, hundreds of plants will make their way into the gardens of three New York correctional facilities, where incarcerated individuals will care for them as part of programs focused on healing, responsibility, and personal growth.
The plants will support garden spaces at Sing Sing Correctional Facility’s Honor Block, Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, and Taconic Correctional Facility, continuing a multi-year partnership between the Sing Sing Prison Museum and Teatown Lake Reservation. Community members will have the opportunity to support this initiative by donating through the Sing Sing Prison Museum’s website between March 25 and April 25.
For incarcerated individuals, the gardens offer a rare opportunity to nurture living things. Through planting, tending, and maintaining the gardens, incarcerated individuals gain horticultural skills, while experiencing the calming and restorative effects of working with soil and plants. Gardening programs have long been recognized for their therapeutic benefits, helping reduce stress, build responsibility, and provide a sense of purpose. In correctional facilities, they can also support community building, rehabilitation, and preparation for life after release.
At Sing Sing Correctional Facility, the program focuses on the facility’s Honor Block, where incarcerated individuals who demonstrate commitment to personal development help maintain a garden space that brings healthy fresh food and greenery to the prison environment.
Plants will also support gardens at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility and Taconic Correctional Facility, two women’s correctional facilities in Westchester County, where horticultural programs contribute to rehabilitation efforts and offer participants meaningful opportunities to care for living landscapes. Hour Children’s programs for incarcerated mothers further activate the gardens as educational spaces, where participants learn to prepare fresh, nutritious baby food from the produce they cultivate. The initiative builds on a partnership that has grown over several years between Teatown Lake Reservation and the Sing Sing Prison Museum.
The initiative is also supported by Hudson Link for Higher Education in Prison, a nonprofit that works to transform lives through college education and reentry support. Hudson Link plays a key logistical role in the project, coordinating the delivery of plants and ensuring they reach participants inside the correctional facilities where the gardens are maintained. This project is further supported by committed DOCCS staff and volunteers advancing innovative programs behind bars through nonprofit and private philanthropy.
“This project highlights that even in places defined by walls and confinement, gardens can create spaces for nourishment, community, and healing,” says Amy Hufnagel, Assistant Director of the Sing Sing Prison Museum.
The Sing Sing Prison Museum (SSPM) shares stories of incarceration and reform, past and present, and brings people together to imagine and create a more just society. SSPM preserves the history of Sing Sing Prison while fostering public understanding of incarceration and its lasting impact on individuals, communities, and society. SSPM opens for the season on April 11-12, with more exciting programs and exhibits to come throughout 2026.
Teatown Lake Reservation, a nonprofit nature preserve located just minutes from Sing Sing Correctional Facility, has helped source plants and mobilize community support for the gardens.
“This collaboration reflects a simple but powerful idea,” said Kevin Carter, Teatown’s Executive Director. “When people are given the opportunity to care for living things, it can open the door to reflection, responsibility, and hope.”
To learn more about Plants for Prisons, or to donate, visit singsingprisonmuseum.org/plantsforprisons.
