WORCESTER—The Worcester County Sheriff’s Office is celebrating a record-breaking harvest year on its inmate-run organic farm. The remarkable yield is attributed to ideal weather conditions, including consistent high humidity, ample sunshine, and frequent rainstorms.
![Worcester County Sheriff’s Office staff deliver fresh organic produce from the Sheriff’s Office’s Organic Farm to the El Buen Samaritano Food Program Inc. [EBS] (photo submitted).](https://theworcesterguardian.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/image001-3.jpg)
For more than a decade, inmates at the Worcester County House of Correction have cultivated fresh produce as part of a work-release program. This initiative not only supports numerous local food banks, senior centers, soup kitchens, veteran groups, and charitable organizations but also benefits the inmates within the facility.
Recently, the Sheriff’s Office donated a substantial amount of produce to area food pantries and nonprofits, including El Buen Samaritano Food Program Inc. (EBS), Quinsigamond Village Community Center Food Pantry, Ghanaian Community Church, St. Paul’s Elder Outreach Services, St. Bernard’s Church of Our Lady of Providence Parish, Friendly House, Mustard Seed Catholic Worker, Yes We Care, and St. John’s Food for the Poor Program.
Currently, the farm is yielding large quantities of zucchini, summer squash, and cucumbers. As the summer transitions to fall, eggplant, peppers, tomatoes, cabbage, corn, watermelon, cantaloupe, and pumpkins will also become abundant.
In recent years, the farm has expanded to approximately 18 acres. On average, 500 pounds of produce are harvested daily, amounting to about 40,000 pounds annually. However, the favorable conditions this year have boosted daily yields to 750-1000 pounds. To handle the increased production, a second delivery crew has been added to distribute the produce to community partners across Worcester County.
The work-release program involves low-risk, non-violent inmates who earn “good time” credits for their participation and positive behavior. Inmates typically work 10-25 hours per week, depending on the season and workload.
Since taking office in 2011, Worcester County Sheriff Lew Evangelidis has prioritized the development of the organic farm, leading to its expansion and making it the largest of its kind on a correctional facility in Massachusetts.
“We are blessed with the opportunity to run the organic farm program right at our facility,” said Evangelidis in the announcement. “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.”
News releases, tips, recipes and jokes are more than welcome to Charlene Arsenault at carsenault@theworcesterguardian.org
