Women are the fastest-growing group of people going to prison. Some say the system is broken. In a Michigan state prison, women get a taste of freedom through working with plants...

According to Christina Rathbone, author of A World Apart: Women, Prison, and Life Behind Bars, "The U.S. incarcerates more people each year than any place in the world other than China. The fastest-growing group within those incarcerated is women. Women who are mothers, primary care givers between the ages of 15 to 25, all there due to a non-violent offense, usually drug use."

Rathbone spent five years conducting interviews and writing the book, which places the system under a microscope. "Women in general are affectionate people, and they take that away from you [in prison],” said Mrs. Smith (not her real name) who spent nine years at the Framingham penitentiary. “They choose to medicate most people rather than help.”

Many state legislators around the country have spent years trying to fix the system. Change comes slowly, but it does happen. For example, Ellen Baron is a horticulture instructor at Huron Valley Complex, a minimum security women’s correctional facility, in Ypsilani, Michigan. Through classes and training, she prepares inmates for rehabilitation into the community. In the process of working with plants and caring for their own garden plots, Ellen has witnessed amazing transformations in the lives of incarcerated women.

Listen to my interview with Ellen Baron and learn how plants have the power to transform: Subscribe to my 2-minute podcast feed (so you can open the attachment below) or simply listen to the 2-minute, mp3 file now by clicking here.

Source for Rathbone information: Marblehead Reporter: "A look behind the bars," article by Kaitlin Melanson