In 1998, my husband David Madeira and I bought a one acre neglected corner lot with a dilapidated bungalow. ​Until the 1700s, the site was known to be inhabited by Lenape Indians. In the early 1920’s, it was a recreational retreat for African-American communities. When we arrived, there were a few plants but the dominant energy emanated  from three massive oak trees. The land  possessed a unique, restorative spirit.  I wanted to spend as much time as possible gardening on it.

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Over twenty five years later, I still garden here year after year, refining and adding to a vision of color and contrast. Intimacy with this land has deeply impacted the clarity  and direction of my life.  

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In solitude, gardening, I think about how the powerful act of pardoning moves me. This began in earnest in 1988 when I taught painting in State Correctional Institutions. At that time I had the privilege to paint portraits of prisoners directly and record their thoughts.  

Within a year of teaching and painting portraits at the State Correctional Institution at Muncy, the only state correctional institution for women in Pennsylvania at that time, I wanted to focus on bringing visibility to the lifers. In Pennsylvania, all life-sentences are issued without parole. Freedom depends upon the mercy of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and ultimately the Governor. Legions of rehabilitated prisoners are warehoused for decades, kneecapping not only them, but their families, communities, and therefore, all of us.

In the early 1990’s I worked with the only person employed by the state correctional system to represent prisoners seeking pardon, primarily for life-sentences.  As the Director of the Arts and Humanities Program at the Pennsylvania Prison Society,  I initiated programs designed to bring visibility to lifers.  I visited Harrisburg over the period of one year, monthly, to observe their activity.  I witnessed the devastation experienced by unforgiven but long rehabilitated prisoners, inhumanely trapped for decades.  Many of them were incarcerated as children.   

 

The violence and polarization of this time call for spaces focussed solely on deep consideration of the imperative to pardon.   This garden's  tranquil and healing spirit and it's close proximity by train make it an accessible and desirable site to appreciate the mystery and majesty of forgiveness as the highest justice.