Stanley Brooks

Enough vegetables, including broccoli, mustard and turnip greens, are being harvested now at the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman to feed the 12,000-plus offenders in the three main prisons and community work centers of the Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC).

Farming is one way the state cuts down on food cost to taxpayers, plus give hundreds of inmates something to do while serving time.

In addition to vegetables, the Mississippi Prison Agricultural Enterprises (MPAE) crop production also includes rice, wheat, soybeans and corn. There’s also a poultry facility with a capacity for 36,000 hens. […]