The men had a full day ahead of them. Ground needed to be tilled. Peas needed to be replanted to replace the ones eaten by pheasants. There also was land that needed to be prepared to start fruit trees.

Just a typical spring day for Utah County gardeners. However, Hawthorne and Torres are not your typical gardeners. And theirs is not the typical backyard garden.

Their plot of fertile land is between the Utah County jail and the county animal shelter. And they are jail inmates working in the jail-industries program.

While much of the produce is used in the jail's kitchen, inmates raised 41 tons of produce on a 5-acre plot last year. Much of it was donated to a local food bank and Orem residents who couldn't plant gardens because of Japanese beetle-eradication programs.

Over the past four years, inmates have donated more than 80 tons of produce to the community.

Brent Crane, executive director of the Food and Care Coalition, said the jail's seasonal offerings are greatly appreciated at the food bank.

"Produce is something our clients like to have," Crane said.

But jail officials say their most important crop is the men and women who can return to society as productive people.

"If you want an inmate to be an inmate all his life, treat him like an inmate," said deputy Anna Barney, who was supervising a group of prisoners one recent afternoon. "If you want him to be a human being, treat him like a human being."

The garden project started four years ago on a 2.5-acre tract near the jail. Its creator, Lt. Dennis Harris, said it took quite a bit of work to make the field productive. The soil had to have its alkaline content reduced so it could grow plants, and inmates used garden tillers to loosen the hard-packed soil.

The produce has primarily been used in the jail kitchen, reducing the county's cost for supporting the inmates. Over time, the garden has expanded to the 6 acres it occupies today, employing 50 to 75 inmates to tend it through the growing season.

"How can you go wrong when you have inmates giving back to the community?" Harris asked.

Sgt. JoAnn Murphy, who now supervises the industries program, credits Adrian Hinton, the county's Utah State University extension agent. Hinton has tested the soil, delivered donated seeds for the inmates to plant and offered his expertise at making the garden grow.

"The nice thing is, we have some good learners here," Hinton said, as he delivered a pallet of tomato plants.

Additionally, Hinton uses the garden and its gardeners to test new plants to see if they can survive in Utah County. He regularly shares what he's learned from the jail garden's experience with other gardeners.

But gardening is not for every prisoner. Murphy said only nonviolent offenders qualify for the jail-industries program, which takes only about 10 percent of the inmates. The garden is the first rung on that ladder.

"It gives us a chance to see their work ethic," Murphy said. An inmate who proves himself in the garden can move on to working at a local business, gaining job skills that, hopefully, will keep him or her on the outside.

Murphy said only 24 percent of inmates who get a job when they leave jail commit another crime, compared with 68 percent of those who don't have a job.

The garden also is therapeutic. By getting out and working in the fresh air, and seeing things grow, the inmates take some pride in their accomplishments, Murphy said, as well as reflect on where their lives are heading.

Hawthorne, who is serving a sentence for possession of marijuana and driving without insurance, said one of his best experiences was taking a load of food to Provo and giving it to people who needed it.

"It gives you a rewarding feeling," he said.

Torres, who is in jail on charges of possession of drug paraphernalia and retail theft, said working in the garden is far better than sitting in a two-person jail cell or watching television all day. He said he used to garden before he came to the jail, and plans to continue gardening when he gets out.

The jail's Lt. Harris said he would like to see the garden get a tractor of its own, since it is getting too big to efficiently work the soil with smaller tillers. With a price tag at $26,000, Harris is hoping to find someone who can either donate the money to purchase one or donate an old tractor.

dmeyers@sltrib.com

Last year, Utah County jail inmates provided food for Orem residents living in the Japanese beetle-infestation area who couldn't plant gardens. But this year, those residents can resume gardening.

Larry Lewis, Utah Department of Agriculture spokesman, said the spraying procedure has changed this season.

The ground will be treated first, but the second treatment, when the plants have come up, will use different chemicals that will dissipate, allowing people to eat what they plant.

The department is trying to eradicate the beetles in Orem before they can damage the area's fruit crops. For more information on the program, go to www.orem.org.

Utah County is not the only county where jail inmates grow gardens. In Salt Lake County, inmates tend a 3-acre tract and sell their produce at the farmers market, according to Sgt. Raylene Eppard. She said the jails in Washington and Cache counties also run jail gardens.