A New Road to Recovery
A New Road to Recovery
Heather Warren, left, goes over the health of a Brussels sprout plant with Fulton Community Supervision Center (CSC) resident Megan Preston in the facility’s garden on June 27, 2025, in Fulton, Mo. Warren has worked with the University of Missouri Extension Office for 14 years, and nutrition education and gardening have been lifelong passions.
A lady bug crawls along the edge of a garden bed with beef steak tomato plants June 27, 2025. Lady bugs are great protectors of the garden as they are natural predators to many pests like aphids and mites, according to the University of California’s Agriculture and Natural Resources department.
CSC residents Allie Gordon, left, and Lauren Cole listen to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” while sharing a pair of earbuds as they watch their fellow roommates tend to the garden July, 18, 2025.
Bags of freshly harvested tomatoes and peppers wait to be taken inside the kitchen at the Fulton CSC on Nov. 1, 2024. The CSC garden produced 250 pounds of tomatoes during the past summer along with plethora of strawberries, peppers, onions, Brussels sprouts and zucchini squash.
A CSC resident holds a box turtle June 27, 2025, whose home is the community garden and is named Rue. This CSC resident looks after Rue regularly and colored the turtle’s shell to “give him some style.”
Warren, left, jumps into a group exercise session with the CSC residents on Nov. 1, 2024. Nutrition education is the main component of the MU Extension's program program but a little exercise is also something Warren like to include.
CSC resident Kara Esparza crochets a blanket during some free time Nov. 1, 2024. Esparza only picked up the hobby 3 weeks prior and enjoys how the activity can relieve stress and keep her mind occupied.
A drawing belonging to CSC resident Amanda George hangs in the commons area of the CSC on Nov. 1, 2024. In nearly all of George’s drawings the phrase “Thug Life” makes an appearance as a comedic reminder of what her past life was like, according to George
CSC residents form a prayer circle in the facility’s courtyard Nov. 8, 2024. Resident Angela Gossett, black hoodie and blue jeans near the back of circle, led the prayer that day, expressing her gratitude for family and the relationships she had formed while in the program
A group of CSC residents prepare a new recipe provided by the MU Extension’s nutrition program June 27, 2025. This week’s recipes was zucchini stir-fry using fresh zucchini from the CSC’s garden along with other fresh vegetables provided by the nutrition program.
CSC residents serve up a fresh-made strawberry salsa made with ingredients from their garden June 6, 2025.
A trio of CSC residents take a morning stroll Nov. 8, 2024, around the Fulton CSC. There are no razor wires or barred gates surrounding the CSC, unlike the men’s prison in background, but the women must still have a guard escort them during their walks, who is out of the frame trailing behind this group.
In Fulton, Missouri, there is a massive campus of buildings and structures belonging to the Missouri Department of Corrections. Nearly all are surrounded by reinforced fences and razor wire, but one stands apart without these daunting symbols of incarceration: the Community Supervision Center (CSC), an all-women facility where residents complete a 120-day program designed to provide an empathetic environment, emphasizing gender-responsive education and trauma-informed recovery.
This is especially significant, as incarcerated women are far more likely to have experienced interpersonal violence and trauma than their male counterparts and are three to four times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, according to the National Center for PTSD.
Since the facility was remodeled and reopened in February 2019, hundreds of women have successfully completed the program. It is the first of its kind in Missouri, offering women without violent or sex-related felony offenses – who are struggling to complete probation or parole – an opportunity to seek help instead of going to prison.
At the CSC in Fulton, residents receive counseling from professional therapists, gain skills for effectively applying for jobs, explore creative expression, and develop a sense of community. But one of the most distinctive aspects of the program is the nutrition education initiative sponsored by the University of Missouri Extension Office.
Once a week, Heather Warren, a nutrition program associate with the MU Extension Office in Montgomery County, visits the CSC to teach residents about nutrition and gardening. The facility has more than 10 large raised garden beds and two small greenhouses where they grow a variety of fruits and vegetables. Women in the program are allowed to tend the garden at their leisure throughout the week and are encouraged to look up new recipes during their daily allotted internet time.
This is an ongoing project, but President Donald Trump’s new “Big, Beautiful Bill” has cut funding to the nutrition education program, and many at the MU Extension Office fear being laid off in the near future.