Young Inmates Doing Thyme in the Prison Garden

On a football-field-sized stretch of land beside the Walton County Jail in tiny Monroe, Ga., a tractor tiller turned weed-choked rows of red clay slowly, methodically, unleashing the earthy smell of hope and the clean, blank slate of spring. At the edge of the field, a group of men in black-and-white striped uniforms awaited instructions with a guard under an evergreen, its shade a promise of future luxury when the sure-to-be-blazing sun of a Southern summer makes working in the elements more of a challenge than on this crisp, cloudy morning. A 22-year-old young man in the group breathed an audible sigh of relief when he saw DeDe Harris, the executive director of Walton Wellness and the heart and soul of this garden. She called his name, Jaylen, in recognition, and asked him how he was doing. He replied, "Better, now," while smiling at her.