Prisons and the justice system often make headlines for issues like overcrowding or sentencing, but there’s a quieter, more transformative side to life behind bars that rarely gets attention.

While offending behaviour programmes are well established in prisons, research from my colleagues and I has focused on the rehabilitative potential of a very different aspect of prison life – prison dairy farm work.

At HMP Prescoed, an open prison near Usk in south-east Wales, prisoners are getting their hands dirty at Cilgwri Farm, a fully functioning dairy operation. Here, prisoners help manage a large herd of dairy cows and their calves, learning not only essential farming skills but, perhaps more importantly, how to care and connect in ways many may have never experienced before.

Our interviews with prison staff suggested that working with a dairy herd could help the men move away from crime.

Working with cows isn’t just about milking and feeding. It’s also about teamwork, trust and care. We found that the........

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