For years, incarcerated people across the country have asked for one simple thing: the right to buy fresh fruit and vegetables. The answer is almost always no. With no healthy options to buy, people inside spend over a billion dollars a year on processed junk food — the only food the system makes available to them.

A group of incarcerated organizers called Project Avocado just changed that. They persuaded San Quentin's administration to support the first incarcerated-led farmers market ever held inside a U.S. prison — a one-day event this summer, built entirely by people on the inside. We need $25,000 to make it happen. If it works, a weekly market follows.

A question that's been answered "no" for decades

Ask anyone who has spent time inside a jail or prison what they couldn't get, and somewhere on the list is fresh food. Every year, incarcerated people throughout the nation request the right to purchase fresh fruit and vegetables. Every year, the request is denied. Prison commissaries stock shelf-stable, ultra-processed calories and little else — and with nowhere else to turn, incarcerated people spend more than a billion dollars annually on that junk food.

This isn't a small inconvenience. We now understand, through the science of the gut-brain connection, that poor nutrition doesn't only damage the body — it deepens depression, anxiety, and despair. In an environment already saturated with stress and isolation, the food itself becomes part of the harm.

This time, the answer was "yes"

Project Avocado is a group of incarcerated justice organizers who decided not to wait for the system to change on its own. They did the work: they designed a farmers market that operates fully within correctional and safety regulations, drafted the operations documents, and brought them to San Quentin's administration for review.

The administration vetted those documents — and supported them. This summer, Project Avocado will run a one-day farmers market event inside San Quentin as a proof of concept. It will be the first incarcerated-led farmers market in any U.S. prison.

If it succeeds, the next step is a weekly farmers market — sustained, reliable access to fresh produce for the people who live there.

What the event actually does

On market day, every San Quentin resident will have the chance to spend their own funds at real local farm stands — fresh fruit, vegetables, and produce grown by farmers in the surrounding community. And because dignity shouldn't depend on what's in your account, every resident receives a $5 voucher to spend at the market, regardless of income. No one is left standing on the outside looking in.

This is what makes it different from a program done to people inside. It was conceived, designed, and will be run by incarcerated people — within the rules, vetted by the institution, and built to prove that fresh food and safe operations are not opposites.

Why your gift matters now

A one-day event is a small thing that decides a very large thing. Pull this off cleanly, and the case for a permanent weekly market becomes almost impossible to refuse. The proof of concept is the hinge the whole future swings on.

What's standing between today and that open-air stand is $25,000 in launch funding. Here's exactly where every dollar goes:

$8,000 — Project Manager stipend. A coordinator works for four months to align local farmers, volunteers, the incarcerated team, and prison officials. This is the human glue that turns a supported plan into a real event that runs safely.
$14,000 — Fresh produce. The actual fruit, vegetables, and produce stocked at the farm stands — sourced from local farmers.
$3,000 — Vouchers and operations. Printing the $5 vouchers that go to every resident, plus the miscellaneous costs of pulling off a first-of-its-kind event.

That's the entire budget. $25,000 to feed a community fresh food for the first time in years, and to open the door to every market that comes after it.

Stand with the people building the cure

The people most failed by this system are the ones fixing it — within the rules, with care, and on behalf of everyone around them. They asked for fresh food. For once, the answer was yes. Help them keep it that way.

Every dollar goes toward the market. Donate today.

A project of the Let Us Contribute Initiative (LUCI) · letuscontribute.org · contact@letuscontribute.org

Project Avocado: The First Incarcerated-Led Farmers Market in a U.S. Prison

Every year they ask for fresh fruit and vegetables. Every year the answer is "no." This summer, San Quentin said "yes." Help them open the stand.