Yes, that's a Japanese Garden--inside a prison. Oregon State Penitentiary. inmate Johnny Cofer dreamed of the idea five years ago. “It’s easy to look at it as a place where all dreams come to die and that the people around me are all miserable people,” he told The Oregonian. “I started to imagine this place as my community. I understood I had done so many wrong things.” He imagined the garden as a place of peace and redemption. Other inmates agreed. Over 180 of them--many of them members of the Asian Pacific Family Club and the Veterans Association-- wrote grants, labored in the garden, and convinced Hoichi Kurisu to join them. Kurisu, famous for his work on the Portland Japanese Garden, donated his time and materials for the project.
The garden has already made a big difference in the lives of the prisoners. “A lot of the men in there are doing their best to learn from what they have done in the past and they want to do what’s right,” said inmate Doug Sander. “They want to move forward and this is a step. This is a big step.”
Read The Oregonian story or see more photos of the garden. Thanks to Karen Keltz for passing on this story!