The prisoners have earned their sentences, nobody's debating that.

Instead, this story is about a jail staff that decided it may be able change the lives of a select few inmates by putting them to work on something more stimulating than making license plates.

"Our goal is that, by the time they are done working here and have completed their sentence, that they won't ever have to come back," said Sergeant Sandy Nelson, Alternative Sentence Supervisor the Boulder County Jail.

The idea began with a large, brown plot of land where weeds were the only thing that grew. Inmates selected for the project would take care of the prison grounds while taking care of their neighbors at the jail.

They would do it by growing the jail's food in a community garden; food grown by and harvested for the inmates.

It's not easy work, and the job is quite exclusive. Only four inmates are selected each year to tend to the garden during Colorado's short 100-day growing season. The trusted inmates work as many as 14 hours a day from sunrise to sunset, 7 days a week through the heat of the summer.

"They work very hard and they're very invested in what's going on out here," said Sgt. Nelson. "This job ends up helping them with their communication skills and sense of responsibility. If you had to be in a jail, this is the prime job you would want."

Once a week, master gardeners certified by Colorado State University visit the garden, providing growing techniques and advice to the trusted inmates working on the garden.

"They're just folks," said Cheryl Frohlich, a retired school teacher and master gardener. "Anyone of us could make a mistake, and I don't think of them as, 'Oh my goodness, they're scary prisoners,' or something. They're people, and it's fun getting to know them. I really think we need to get to know everybody."

Inmates such as "Rob" believe the time spent in the garden is time that grows more than fruits and vegetables; it grows character and changes lives.

"It's really relaxing out here, and it's the best possible place I could be," said Rob. "To be able to see the sky all the time, to see the mountains, it makes it so much better to actually be out here, and so much easier to cope and reconcile with the reason you're here."