Latest news with #HMPDownview
BBC News
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
South East prison garden heads to RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025
A garden inspired by a South East social enterprise project helping to train women in prisons will celebrate "strong beauty" and femininity when it goes on display at the RHS Chelsea Flower Glasshouse Garden will return to the show when it opens next week, showcasing the "healing power of nature", the project behind it garden, which is inspired by the work of The Glasshouse at East Sutton Park prison in Maidstone, will later be donated to women's prison HMP Downview in Banstead at the end of the Thompson, the designer behind the garden, said: "I said I would never do another Chelsea after my 10th show in 2019 but when the opportunity came up I couldn't say no." She added: "These women are determined to improve their lives by getting some kind of training and making the most of it so that when they get out of prison they can find a job."You are stripped of all self-worth in prison and deprived of nature and by putting these women in the spotlight is wonderful for them." Ms Thompson, who has creative studios in London and Eastbourne, said she wanted to use a colour palette of deeper reds, pinks and crimsons to portray the "strong beauty" that has inspired the garden garden centres around an elliptical pavilion made from recycled acrylic and is designed to offer a space of reflection and support which will eventually sit inside HMP is the second time The Glasshouse project had been able to take part in the Chelsea Flower Show after its garden, designed and built by women who were in prison or who had been recently released, won a gold medal in project provides horticultural training and support to women in prison, leading to a 0% reoffending RHS Chelsea Flower Show begins on Tuesday, 20 May and runs until Saturday, 24 May.
Times
08-05-2025
- General
- Times
Chelsea garden to bring nature into prison for female offenders
A garden to be showcased at the Chelsea Flower Show will be relocated to HMP Downview to aid the rehabilitation of female offenders. Jo Thompson, who worked with female ex-offenders assisted by the Glasshouse, a rehabilitation not-for-profit centred around horticulture, said the garden is designed to be 'safe and private' and give a green space to women who are often 'deprived' of nature. The garden will be unveiled at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show on May 19 and then re-created at HMP Downview, a women-only prison in Surrey, as soon as the show finishes. The final design cost £1 million and was funded by Project Giving Back, a charity that supports gardens for good causes at Chelsea Flower Show. Thompson said she changed her approach to the garden after meeting with the women in prison who worked on the project. 'It's easy to have preconceptions about people in prison,' she said. 'I tore up my notes, started again and instead I focused on what [the women] had said about privacy. 'Shining a torch in your face at four o'clock in the morning, or constant noise all night … I realised that they needed to have somewhere private. They needed to have somewhere that felt beautiful, because they were deprived of any link with nature at all, and somewhere where they could garden if they wanted to.' • Garden design: seven golden rules for your patch The design took approximately two years to complete, and female offenders are expected to be able to access the garden from July this year. The Glasshouse, which worked with Thompson on the project, is a social enterprise that trains women to grow house plants, which are sold online and also installed and maintained in corporate offices. The Times Crime and Justice Commission, which published its final report last month, recommended better provision of rehabilitation initiatives like the training and work opportunities provided by the Glasshouse. Kali Hamerton-Stove, co-founder of the Glasshouse, said that the garden symbolised 'a real push' towards rehabilitation among the public. 'I think people are starting to see there needs to be a change in the way that we address [the prison] population,' she said. 'And so it's so exciting for us to be a part of that and for the women that we work with to get to be a part of that. 'When you speak with the women we work with, almost all of them will talk about a lack of access to nature and lack of access to fulfilling activity when they're in prison. A lot of them don't realise it until they're with us, but when their hands are in soil, they feel calmer, more productive and happier.' • Ann Treneman: What I've learnt about gardens — 27 facts about plants 'Nature and growing is incredibly powerful. Gardening has the potential to help people have better lives, and that can cut reoffending.' Amy Dixon, governor of both HMP Downview and HMP East Sutton Park, said: 'The Glasshouse garden will make a massive impact for the women in custody at HMP & YOI [Young Offender Institution] Downview, and for our hardworking staff. 'Women preparing for release will have regular access to the garden for planning their future and meeting their resettlement team, as well as training and support. This special garden will provide inspiration and hope for women in an anxious and overwhelming time.'
