Carlos is a prisoner who has been detained in the Batán prison for five years and for approximately eight months he has been working in the organic garden of Liberté.
He tells us that he had previously gained experience in a garden, having previously worked in the context of confinement in a non-self-managed garden, belonging to the Penitentiary Service.
He comments on the differences between working at Liberté, a self-management entity carried out 100% by prisoners, and says that it is different here, one works more calmly, and highlights that the vegetables are used in a more beneficial way for those who work. the land of the assigned place, since many times people outside the place used to collect the fruits.
The same thing does not happen here, I am one of those responsible for maintaining order in the sector and everyone collaborates for that, those who work bring their vegetables on a daily basis, we act in an organized manner and within a framework of mutual respect.
My task takes me about four or five hours a day, he tells us and adds that with the arrival of summer he takes more advantage of the day and spends more hours in the orchard.
At this time, he mentions, we have an open-air planting of green onions, leeks, chard, parsley, and some broccoli, and he says that it is for now, since they are counting on a large greenhouse, which has recently been finished building with the support of INTA and they will locate vegetables and vegetables there, which will facilitate their development inside it.
What is Liberté for him?
Here it is different, says Carlos, and expresses that there are people who come to work in the garden and feel freer than in other parts of the prison, here at times we can presume to be in a field, here they don't bother us, we don't have the pressure of nobody, we handle ourselves differently, very different from what happens elsewhere, everything is much calmer and he highlights that this experience has changed him one hundred percent, I work to my liking, calm down, I try to go through this situation of incarceration as best you can.
With regard to the relationship with other colleagues, for me it's all good, out there those who can get a little annoyed when I order them a task are usually the youngest due to the natural rebellion of youth, although later they manage to understand, and with the big there is no inconvenience, we speak the same language, they know their responsibilities.
Lastly, he said that the people who come here have the possibility of finding a personal change for their lives and start preparing to face life the day they have to leave prison and for that they can opt for the tools that are offered to daily, among which are workshops and training courses and work spaces such as a vegetable garden, carpentry, blacksmith shop, sewing workshop, for example.
Source: Liberte