TWIN FALLS — Inside of a hoop house, tiny sagebrush plants sit inside of black plastic cones.

Lisa Wheeler calls them her babies. Every day during the fall, she spent time meticulously caring for each plant, making sure all 18,000 seedlings had the best chance of survival.

Documenting, watering, thinning, fertilizing, and watching for disease became her routine.

“To be in a very quiet setting, it’s almost like a meditation,” Wheeler said. “To be in a serene place, it brought calmness to me and peace to my soul and heart.”

Peace is something that can be hard to find inside of a prison.

Wheeler is serving time at the South Boise Women’s Correctional Center near Kuna for possession of a controlled substance.

It was there she was introduced to the Sagebrush in Prisons Project started by the Institute for Applied Ecology.

“It really is a win-win-win program,” said Stacy Moore, ecological education program coordinator with the Institute for Applied Ecology. “It provides skills for the inmates, it’s a really nice contact with the community and it’s helping to restore our native habitats.”

If you was a prisoner, would you hit dat?

No, Jim would wait until Bubba came along for his bath,,,,,

and yet doctors and nurses wear them in the ER. I guess they are just ignorant.

T-shirt material masks, don't think that I've ever seen a Dr. or nurse wearing anything like that?

Cool story, how anyone can turn it negative is beyond me .

You obviously don't log on much.....

Probably because she is in prison which have the worst infection rate anywhere in the world much less the country