Dan Smith, commander of the penal farm, said state inmates at the prison work eight to 10 hours a day producing and preserving the food. Inmates prefer working on the farm to staying in their cells. It also builds a little pride because these are people who've never worked before and now they're doing something productive. Maily said the 25-acre farm produces corn, peas, broccoli, greens, potatoes, cantaloupe, okra and more. Once 1,000 bushels of each crop is preserved, excess vegetables are sold to buy more farm supplies.
Buyers are vendors at the local farmers' market and the public at a street corner vegetable stand.
In addition to vegetable production, the farm has a hog operation, started a meat goat operation last year and expects to begin a cattle operation next year, Smith said. Maily has been involved in the vegetable program since it began. He visits the farm at least twice a week handling soil analysis, making fertilizer recommendations, and overseeing seeding, irrigation and harvesting. Since 1996, the farm has been self-sufficient and has required no money from the regular prison budget, Maily said. The farm also has lowered the operating cost of the prison.