Mental Health in Parkville Prison and Building a Garden to Support Young Children

This project explores mental health in Parkville prison and how building a garden can support young children. It discusses engagement programs, trauma-informed design, and evidence-based recommendations. The garden will provide physical exercise, fresh air, and direct sunlight, leading to better mental health outcomes for inmates.

MENTAL HEALTH IN
PARKVILLE PRISON AND
HOW CAN BUILDING A
GARDEN SUPPORT
YOUNG CHILDREN

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Engagement program...................................................................................................................1
Trauma informed design..............................................................................................................2
Testing ideas for feasibility and desirability................................................................................3
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................4

INTRODUCTION
Mental health is concerned with emotional, behavioral and cognitive well- being of the
people. It encompasses the way people think, feel and behave. It also determines the way an
individual handles situations of stress and makes choices related to various aspects of life.
Mental health is important as it forms a vital part of life by impacting the thoughts and behavior
of a person. Therefore, this aspect is even more essential to be considered in prisons. This is
because, prisons present an environment which can directly impact the mental health of the
people living there (Timler, Brown and Varcoe, 2019). There are various situations which expose
the prisoners to violence which not only exacerbate existing disorders of mental health but can
also lead to development of symptoms such as anxiety, hypervigilance, suicidality, post –
traumatic stress etc. In this regard, the present project is on mental health in Parkville prison and
explores the ways in which developing a garden in the prison would support young children.
Parkville prison in Australia also has young prisoners. Therefore, it is important for the
prison authorities to consider implementation of such strategies that take care of the mental
health of the inmates. Adolescence is considered to be a crucial period that marks the
development and maintenance of emotional and social habits (Timler, Varcoe and Brown, 2019).
The patterns formed during this period play an important role throughout the whole life of an
individual. It is important to address the mental health needs of the prisoners at Parkville prison.
This is required as it will help in bringing reduction in the incidents of re- offending thus
decreasing the number of people who commit crimes and return to prison. Further, it will also act
as a diversion for those young people who are already suffering from mental health issues.
Moreover, it will also help in reducing the overall costs of the prisons. Considering the above
mentioned points, there is a need of an engagement program that not only engages the young
prisoners but also adds to their mental well-being.
Engagement program
In his regard, development of a garden in the Parkville prison would be suitable. This will
act as an engagement program where the youth prisoners will be engaged in developing the
garden by planting trees and other plants. These activities of developing a garden would be
suitable for the inmates as it will help them to understand the importance of dignity of labor.
They will learn that all works are important and can be done by anybody. Moreover, gardening
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offers a form of physical exercise which would lead to betterment of the health of young
prisoners (Jewkes and et.al., 2019). Physical exercise is important for the concerned group as it
will help in keeping them active thus reducing the idle time. Therefore, it will be a type of
recreation for them which will prevent them from developing various physical maladies and
cardiovascular degeneration. This will eventually lead to better mental health.
Moreover, the activities of gardening as an engagement program will add to the outdoor
recreation of young prisoners thus providing them with fresh air and direct sunlight. Both these
factors will directly affect their mental health in a positive manner. This is because development
of garden will bring the young inmates of the prison closer to the nature. This would help in
achieving better mental health outcomes for the inmates.
Trauma informed design
Trauma informed design works to integrate the principles of trauma- informed care along
with the creation of physical spaces. This is based on the aim of promoting well- being, healing
and safety of the people (Dutil, 2020). Use of trauma informed design requires gaining
information about the ways in which the identity, worth and dignity of an individual ae impacted
by the physical environment. It also involves understanding the role played by physical
environment in promoting the empowerment of people. This type of design is important in both
urban and prison gardens because it helps in promoting the mental health of prison inmates by
making them realize the importance of their self- worth and identity. They are able to feel better
about themselves which aids promoting their mental wellbeing thus assisting in their decisions of
becoming a better person in life and avoiding further crimes.
With regards to the trauma informed design, the Parkville prison can implement this design in
the development of garden in the following manner:
 Spatial layout- The garden can comprise of clear sightlines and the design should be such
that there are minimum barriers in sight. This will create a sense of calmness and safety.
 Visual interest- This can be created by focusing on detail and avoiding overcrowding.
Stress can be alleviated by incorporating appropriate quantity of objects and paying
attention to their symmetry and regularity (Jewkes, 2018). This has significant positive
impact on the alleviation of stress and promotes mental and emotional well- being.
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 Using cool colours- Such plants can be used for the garden that contain foliage of cool
colors so that it has a calming effect on the inmates.
 Sensory zones- Such zones can be created at the garden at Parkville prison which will
comprise of sensory plants. These include sun flower, chameleon plant that smells of
lemon, citrus plants, jasmine and other flowering plants that contain relaxing fragrance.
Therefore, sensory zone will be effective as it will comprise of scented plants, engraved
seating, play sculptures, touch pads and water features. It can also comprise of active art
areas and pacing pathways which promote engagement of the prisoners with the garden.
Plantings can be done for providing education to the inmates about gardening.
 Living lab- This will also be important as it comprises of a user centred eco-system. At
Parkville prison this can be incorporated by providing the inmates an experience of urban
farming, kitchen garden and yoga centre (Vaswani and Paul, 2019). Therefore, based on
the needs and wants of the young prisoners, the garden can evolve and various other
elements can be incorporated.
Evidence based recommendations
 Imparting Hands- on- skills: Hands – on – skills can be imparted to the inmates with the
help of which they can find green jobs when released from prison. This will instill a spirit
of patient, hope and endurance. These virtues are required not only for gardening but also
or serving a sentence.
 Implementation of self-directed learning model: While developing the garden, it can be
recommended to adopt a self- directed learning model. This model will make the learners
as responsible owners who will then manage their own learning process. They will also
be enabled o integrate self- management with self – monitoring.
Engagement Activities
Young people can be engaged by teaching them gardening skills. These newly trained
inmates can further be given the responsibility of providing training to other groups in the prison.
They can be given the responsibilities of handling smaller projects related to garden development
(Vaswani and Paul, 2019). These project can be relayed to the structure of the garden, use of
different colors of foliage plants and their combination. Other techniques such as grafting can
also be taught to them. Some of the inmates can be engaged by assigning them the task of
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creating a kitchen garden. Path development in the garden is another task through which the
inmates can be engaged. Further, once the garden is developed, various other activities can be
undertaken to engage the inmates. These include yoga sessions, physical activity sessions,
outdoor games etc.
Testing ideas for feasibility and desirability
Ideas can be tested by undertaking various pilot projects with the Prison which will
inform about the views of the inmates. This will fulfill the elements of viability as well as
desirability. Garden experts can also be contacted for the same.
REFERENCES
Journals and Books
Dutil, S., 2020. Dismantling the school-to-prison pipeline: A trauma-informed, critical race
perspective on school discipline. Children & Schools. 42(3). pp.171-178.
Jewkes, Y. andet.al., 2019. Designing ‘healthy’prisons for Women: Incorporating trauma-
informed care and practice (TICP) into prison planning and design. International journal
of environmental research and public health. 16(20). p.3818.
Jewkes, Y., 2018. Just design: Healthy prisons and the architecture of hope. Australian & New
Zealand Journal of Criminology. 51(3). pp.319-338.
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Timler, K., Brown, H. and Varcoe, C., 2019. Growing connection beyond prison walls: How a
prison garden fosters rehabilitation and healing for incarcerated men. Journal of Offender
Rehabilitation. 58(5). pp.444-463.
Timler, K., Varcoe, C. and Brown, H., 2019. Growing Beyond Nutrition. International Journal
of Indigenous Health. 14(2). pp.95-114.
Vaswani, N. and Paul, S., 2019. ‘It's Knowing the Right Things to Say and Do’: Challenges and
Opportunities for Trauma‐informed Practice in the Prison Context. The Howard Journal
of Crime and Justice. 58(4). pp.513-534.
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