Join the Prisoner Learning Alliance (PLA) for an online conversation about gardening for wellbeing in prisons with Artist Faye Claridge who works at the intersection of prisons, ecology, archives, and heritage. In 2021, Faye took Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) archive material into HMP Send, a women’s prison in Surrey. The collection documents how prisoners of war set up a horticultural society in Ruhleben internment camp in Germany during WW1. Its letters and photographs show the enormous impact that gardening had on their mental health and wellbeing. Faye’s project with the RHS – Plants, Prisons and Potential – draws on these materials to encourage women in prison to consider the role of gardening in their own wellbeing.
During this webinar, participants will learn more about Plants, Prisons and Potential at HMP Send, and about the programme it has since inspired at HMP Hewell, supported by Novus. You’ll also consider the benefits of the arts and horticulture in prisons and consider how prison teachers of other subjects could harness them in their lessons. The webinar will begin with the screening of a short film, co-produced by Faye and learners. This will be followed by a chaired conversation, and then questions and comments from the audience.