The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office is experiencing a record year of harvests on its inmate-run organic farm. The unprecedented amount of produce is all thanks to the consistently high humidity, stimulating sunshine, and rapturous rainstorms.

 For over a dozen years, inmates at the Worcester County House of Correction have grown fresh produce on the Sheriff’s Office’s Organic Farm as part of the inmate work-release program. The produce harvested by the inmate work crews has benefitted not only dozens of Worcester County food banks, senior centers, soup kitchens, veteran groups, and charitable organizations but also the inmate population serving time in the facility.

 Recently, the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office made a significant donation of produce to the Blackstone, Millville, Millbury, Northbridge, Sutton, Uxbridge, and Douglas Senior Centers.

 The Sheriff’s Office’s fields currently produce an abundance of zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers. Eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins will soon be bountiful as the longer days of summer fade into cooler fall weather.

 With multiple expansions in recent years, it is estimated that the Worcester County Sheriff’s Office farms approximately 18 acres of land. During an average year, 500 pounds of fresh produce is harvested each day, totaling approximately 40,000 pounds of produce a year.

 However, with the conditions that Mother Nature has provided, the 2024 growing season is off to an electric start. The Sheriff’s Office noted that work release crews yield 750-1000 lbs. of produce with each harvest. Further, the Sheriff’s Office has added a second delivery crew to distribute the produce to community partners throughout Worcester County. 

Inmates who can participate in the work-release program are low-risk and non-violent. The inmates who qualify for the program, and choose to be in it, receive “good time” credits each month for their positive behavior and active participation in programming. The time commitment varies based on the workload and time of the year. Typically, inmates work 10-25 hours a week.

 Since taking office in 2011, Sheriff Evangelidis has remained committed to developing the Organic Farm and being dedicated to the communities he represents. After multiple expansions of the farm under Evangelidis’ leadership, the Worcester County Jail boasts the largest organic farm on a correctional facility in Massachusetts.

 “We are blessed with the opportunity to run the organic farm program right at our facility,” commented Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis. “Besides providing thousands of pounds of fresh produce to those in need, the program has many other benefits. Inmates who qualify for the program have the dignity of doing a full day’s work. This work ultimately benefits the communities in which many of these individuals were born and raised. The rehabilitative power of the farm is tremendous.”