LITTLEROCK — On any given day at Cedar Creek Corrections Center, CCCC, you can usually find 43-year-old Masson Manson outside in the gardens, hands gloved and covered in dirt.
Around him, the prison grounds buzz with unexpected life. A rufous hummingbird zips by, hovering briefly to sip nectar from a purple bearded iris—one of the many plants Manson has nurtured over the past couple of years. Beyond the concrete walkways, feathery green ferns, fuchsia-colored rhododendrons and bright pink columns of foxglove emerge from ornamental rocks surrounding a pond just outside the living units.
On this warm June afternoon, Manson is in the vegetable garden, rhythmically shoveling from piles of rich, dark compost to place on top of rows of vegetables. It is a resource he created himself in bins filled with cardboard and kitchen food scraps and shredded newspapers in a process called vermicomposting. Amid the sprouted remnants of vegetables and paper scraps is soft dirt speckled with tiny toles—evidence the worms are breaking down the bins’ contents.
“The more the cardboard is in there, the more it starts retaining the water,” Manson explains as some loose dirt crumbles through his fingers. “What we normally classify as trash and waste is breaking down the soil and we can easily dig it with our hands. It’s not compacted and you start to see these little worm holes. This is healthy soil.”
Further down the garden rows, sturdy starts of zucchini, lettuce, and lemongrass take root. At the base of each plant sits a precise layering of small stones and grass clippings. It is a technique known as "lithic mulching," which prevents soil erosion and suppresses weeds while trapping moisture and nutrients.
These are some of the many visible touches Manson has made to keep the facility's horticulture program alive.
Filling the void
Two years ago, the Horticulture Certificate course offered through Centralia College was ended as an academic pathway and transitioned to the Sustainability in Prisons Project at CCCC.
Rather than closing up the greenhouses and letting fields go fallow, Manson —a former student in the program—stepped up. Armed with the knowledge he gained before the program stopped, textbooks from the prison library, and a lifetime of personal experience, he became the facility's unofficial horticulture instructor, teaching his peers sustainable gardening practices.
Prison officials say The Evergreen State College, which partners with the Department of Corrections to run the Sustainability in Prisons Project to bring nature, science and environmental education programs into prisons, has expressed interest in supporting the program. However, no commitments have been finalized.
In the meantime, Manson and his peers continue to keep the soil tilled.
Honoring ancestral roots and a vision of Native food sovereignty
Manson says toiling in the garden makes him feel connected to his ancestors. He grew up in Kykotsmovi Village, a semi-arid region located on Third Mesa within the Hopi reservation. For centuries, the Hopi have relied on dryland farming to conserve precious soil moisture to grow crops. Manson, who also carries Navajo heritage, spent his youth balancing traditional Hopi agricultural methods with Navajo ranching and animal husbandry, rearing several types of livestock.
"Farming has been a way of life from my cultural heritage, from my grandparents, taught to me by my parents and enforced through lifelong learning," Manson said. "In the Hopi culture, we call gardening natwani. Natwani means that we’re growing with the land and we’re listening to the land. We try not to use any method outside of our traditional farming that would hurt the land. A lot of our farming comes from working with nature, not against it, and always making improvements where we can."
Manson’s sentence ends in December 2027, and his plans for life after release are deeply rooted in what he has sustained at CCCC.
He wants to attend The Evergreen State College to earn a degree in agriculture. From there, he dreams of launching a non-profit organization dedicated to fighting food insecurity and restoring food sovereignty within tribal communities.
Historical factors including displacement, poverty, and an institutional reliance on highly processed government commodities have contributed to food insecurity and lasting health inequities in Native American populations. The U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Minority Health reports that American Indian and Alaska Native households are more than twice as likely to experience food insecurity than the overall U.S. population. Data also showed people in this demographic were 22% more likely to experience obesity, 36% more likely to have diabetes and more than twice as likely to die from diabetes.
Further compounding the issue is because so many Native Americans have been displaced from their traditional farmlands and onto reservations, many have been unable to practice traditional land management methods.
Manson wants to break that cycle.
"No one is teaching this thing of composting, or methods of growing different varieties, in our language," Manson says. "To teach this in a Hopi language or a Navajo language—these are all goals I have in my future. I want to teach elders how to grow something they have never grown before."
Nurturing culture and community
Besides the aesthetic transformation of the grounds, Manson’s efforts help incarcerated individuals stay connected to their cultural identities. CCCC hosts many events supporting the religious and cultural traditions of the many ethnicities within the incarcerated population. prisons. Many of the things Manson cultivates bring comforting flavors of home inside the perimeter.
He cultivates fresh ginger and lemongrass to flavor dishes for incarcerated Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander, AANHPI, populations. He grows rosemary to be paired with lamb for incarcerated Muslims celebrating religious milestones like Eid. For the facility's Tribal Sons group, he grows traditional herbs used at the onsite Native American sweat lodge.
"My hands are always muddy, there’s always dirt under my fingernails," Manson says. "As long as I can walk around doing my favorite thing to do in my job, knowing I can provide these things makes my time and my day go better. If I can bring a little bit of good food to someone, it’s going to make their life that much easier. I get incarceration isn’t the easiest place to be, but if there’s a positive mental note to take away, it’s that at the end of the day, we made someone else’s day and life better on their plate."
The harvest also impacts people outside perimeter fences. Over the course of the year, Manson and other incarcerated individuals grow a variety of produce including bell peppers, grapes, strawberries, peas, pumpkins and squash. The harvest impacts beyond the perimeter fences. While a portion of what’s grown supplements the prison kitchen, the rest is donated to food banks serving rural communities throughout the county. During the 2025 growing season, 4,232 pounds of produce from CCCC was donated to local food banks.
Planted in 'The Washington Way'
Prison staff view Manson's initiative as a prime example of "The Washington Way." The Washington Way is a collaboration between the DOC and Amend at the University of California San Francisco that seeks to transform correctional culture by prioritizing health and wellness and preparing incarcerated people for reentry. Amend has partnered with prison services in Norway, Northern Ireland, Sweden and Scotland to adapt global best practices aimed at reducing harm in U.S. prisons, thereby making them safer for both staff and incarcerated individuals.
The therapeutic effect of greenery has spread across the units. Many residents have constructed and maintained window flower boxes outside their living quarters, inspired directly by Manson's actions.
"Because of his enthusiasm, many of the gardens in the horticultural area have been expanded to the living units. They see what he’s been doing with his projects, and the other guys want garden boxes," said Lance Graham, a Lieutenant/Project Manager with the Washington Way. "He’s really been able to ignite enthusiasm in the population because of these gardens."
The initiative relies heavily on core principles of normalization (making life inside prisons mirror life outside) and progression (earning responsibility and trust over time).
Graham emphasizes how this directly supports normalization. "He grew up on a farm and it’s something he’s done his entire life—and what’s more normal than working in a garden? I feel like he’s taken some rough guys and shown them there’s something therapeutic about having your hands in the dirt. There’s so much positivity for the facility and the community, which is what makes it so unique."
Manson is set to enter a reentry center later this year. As he gets ready to leave CCCC, he feels proud of the knowledge he’s shared with peers and hopes they’ll sustain the momentum he started.
"My biggest takeaway is when I came here, it was like there was absolutely nothing," Manson said. "But I am leaving knowing I am leaving something meaningful behind. The gentlemen here that have been here as long as I have, they have seen improvements. They know their food has changed as a result of the program.”
Videos
- Meet Masson Mason: Masson Manson talks about how his Hopi and Navajo heritage is influencing his horticulture projects at Cedar Creek and career plans after release.
- How to make compost: Watch Masson Manson explain how he turns kitchen waste into healthy soil.
