Claire Shannon

University of Colorado Denver - 2018

Exploring how food can serve as a form of intervention, empowerment, and restoration for incarcerated populations.

Project: I hope to explore how food can serve as a form of intervention, empowerment, and restoration for incarcerated populations. A number of jails and prisons around the nation are implementing vegetable gardens, cooking classes, and other restorative food practices into their facilities. I plan to do more extensive research on such projects and gather community stakeholders together to start conversations about incorporating similar programming into Denver-area correctional facilities.

Inspiration: Through my own experiences, I see food as a primary method for building community and human connection. Additionally, cooking and eating with other people can be therapeutic, healing, and restorative. Once I started working within the prison system, I noticed how damaging some of the food practices can be for those who are incarcerated and how few food-related initiatives exist in the facilities I worked in.

Future Plans for Project: In the coming months, I hope to start conversations with community stakeholders about what improvements can be made to the food practices in Denver correctional facilities and the potential food-related programming that could be implemented into these facilities to bring about restoration and healing.