On Friday, January 10, the Log Lunch community gathered for the first talk of 2025 to hear from Robin McGraw and Sergeant Jason Turner who are the founder and supervisor, respectively, of the Berkshire House of Corrections Aquaponics Lab. The talk kicked off the month-long series of Log Lunches focused on agriculture and food.
The Berkshire House of Corrections has both a jail, where there are around 100 people awaiting trials, and a correctional facility, where there are around 85-100 people serving sentences up to two and a half years. When Robin started working for the Berkshire County sheriff about ten years ago, he found that in the House of Corrections, “high-risk, high-need inmates didn’t have a good opportunity to change their story” while serving their sentences. By chance, the superintendent of the sheriff’s office met someone on an airplane who was doing aquaponics with juvenil in Charlotte, North Caroline, which helped inspire the idea of building an aquaponic growing facility in the correctional facility. They raised private money to build the facility, which is now funded by the state to run. It is the first aquaponic facility at a correctional facility in the east, and is the only aquaponic facility in Berkshire County. The House of Corrections partners with 100 Gardens, the aquaponics organization based in Charlotte.
Aquaponics refers to a combination of aquaculture (raising and rearing fish) and hydroponics (growing plants without soil). Edible freshwater fish — tilapia, at the House of Corrections — and vegetables are grown in a symbiotic system, where the nutrient-rich water from the aquaculture is fed to the hydroponically-grown plants — mostly lettuce, in this case.
The fish are sold live to restaurants, while the lettuce is used in the kitchen at the House of Corrections, and 1,000-1,200 heads are donated each week to local food pantries. “To date, 300 to 350,000 lettuce heads have gone to the food vulnerable in Berkshire County, reaching every town and city,” Robin said.
There was a need for security staff to oversee the program when it began, which is where Jason came in. Two or three people incarcerated in the House of Corrections work with him Monday through Friday, from 7 am to 2 pm. “It’s hard to explain or understand how valuable it becomes to be able to feel the sunshine or get fresh air as an inmate, or as a person who works in a jail,” Jason said. “It’s also hard to feel any sense of accomplishment.” He said that working in the greenhouse provides him with these things personally, and he sees them at play with the people he works with as well. While most people will not be able to find jobs in aquaponic facilities when their sentences are up, Jason said the hope is that they are “learning life skills, work ethic, how to work as a team, and how to take pride in their work,” which they can apply to anything they go on to do.
The facility consists of a 60 by 60 foot greenhouse with two large grow beds, in which about 4,2000 heads of lettuce are growing at any given time, in different stages of growth. The system is set up mostly for low-profile leafy greens, but they have also grown banana peppers, flowers, and herbs. They have built some DIY small hydroponic systems, separate from the aquaculture, where they have grown tomatoes. Additionally, they have four beehives. “A lot of things in the greenhouse are trial-and-error,” Jason said.
Going forward, he hopes to start a compost system on the grounds of the House of Corrections, using food waste from the kitchen, cardboard from the mailroom, and waste from the grounds crew. He is also interested in getting chickens, and donating the eggs to the same food pantries where the lettuce goes. With their partners at 100 Gardens, they have designed curricula from the elementary to the college level, and are hoping to continue and grow partnerships with local educational institutions, including Williams, where students can come into the greenhouse at times separate from the work hours and learn about aquaponics.
The Log Lunch chefs prepared a delicious meal of potato leek soup, citrus fennel salad, cheddar chive buttermilk biscuits, roasted ginger beets with yogurt sauce and pomegranate seeds, and a parsnip, pecan, and fennel cake for dessert.
BY CHARLOTTE STAUDENMAYER ’25