Plants aren’t the only thing growing in the garden at the Women’s Community Correctional Center. Inmates are blossoming as they build self-confidence and learn new skills while planting and harvesting vegetables and herbs for the prison kitchen.

Kimberly Pada, a 45-year-old inmate, said she finds the work rewarding and therapeutic.

"I’m definitely more confident. It’s given me hope and a whole new outlook on life," she said. "I love making the garden come alive."

Pada, who has served 16 years of a 20-year term for attempted manslaughter, recalled a time when she was handling a plant whose roots were all tangled together.

"It reminds me of how I’m cleaning up my own life," she said. "It took a while to take them apart, but slowly the roots were untangled. I’ve made a lot of mistakes in my life and hurt a lot of people. But slowly I’m healing from the guilt, shame and painful experiences."

Pada and a handful of other inmates are a part of the "Learn to Grow" program started in 2008 by the Lani-Kailua Outdoor Circle and the correctional center. A team of volunteers from the Outdoor Circle has been meeting with the women six hours a week to teach them various methods of backyard vegetable and fruit growing and horticulture, including hydroponics. Thirty women have participated in the program over the past four years.

About 600 heads of lettuce are harvested each month and used in three to four meals a week. Fresh herbs from the garden are used in culinary classes or harvested for the prison chef.

Margaret Brezel, volunteer coordinator for the Lani-Kailua Outdoor Circle/Women’s Community Correctional Center partnership, said the program instills values such as teamwork, cooperation, responsibility, self-worth and joy. Besides edibles, the garden is filled with native plants, bonsai trees, hibiscus, palms and other varieties.

The Outdoor Circle will hold a sale of plants raised by inmates, including starters, bromeliads, hibiscus, areca palms and ferns, from 8 to 11 a.m. Saturday at Kailua Elementary School. Proceeds will benefit the "Learn to Grow" program.

"Every time we go to the garden, it’s an absolute joy to work with these women. Most of the women have never planted anything. They learn a whole lot about gardening and lots about themselves. They really do transform," Brezel said.

Lillian Hussein, 44, who is serving a 20-year sentence for identity theft, created a manual on such topics as creating a hydroponic system, mixing fertilizer, maintaining a worm composting bin, propagating seedlings, and general maintenance and sanitation.

"We built the hydroponic system from the ground up using fencing tubes and drilled holes," she said. "We harvest the lettuce every week."

Sabrina Fiaai, 49, who is serving a 20-year term for attempted manslaughter, said she feels like she is making a difference.

"We feed the facility and that feels good," Fiaai said.

Her crops include bell peppers, tomatoes, arugula, sweet potatoes and mustard cabbage.

"I feel so blessed and privileged to come out and tend the garden," Fiaai said. "It’s an outlet to serenity since we are in cubes most of the day. It’s a healing place."

The inmates are also appreciative of the Outdoor Circle volunteers’ efforts. "They don’t look at our crimes. They look at our hearts and know that we can make a difference," she said.

Malia Kiilau, a 27-year-old inmate serving time for theft and other felonies, said she has found leadership skills from working in the garden.

"Being a leader, I really need to step out of my comfort zone and take the initiative to do things that I normally wouldn’t do," she said. "The fellowship is amazing and helps us build relationships. I definitely have more peace and joy."

According to warden Mark Patterson, the community partnership with the Outdoor Circle is "beginning to break the walls down" for these inmates. About 95 percent of the women are incarcerated for drug-related crimes; most were addicts. Patterson said 75 percent of them have experienced traumatic events including sexual abuse.

"These women need healing and transformation," he said.

"Learn to Grow" is just one of the activities in the prison’s faith-based Total Recovery program.

"These women know that the volunteers are coming in and not getting paid, just to help them. They are finding good role models and support systems. When some of the inmates are released, the Outdoor Circle ladies become their support system," Patterson said.