The Vertical Farms Changing the Face of Rehabilitation in South Carolina and California Prisons

AmplifiedAg CEO David Flynn is leveraging his military-honed mission of food security to provide incarcerated individuals with nutritious foods and a tangible pathway to decrease recidivism through high-demand ag-tech careers.

By Jill Dutton

 March 26, 2026

AmplifiedAg has spent years perfecting the modular approach to indoor farming, using upcycled refrigerated containers to grow produce in environments where nature has largely bowed out. (Photo courtesy of AmplifiedAg)

Editor’s note: This story is part of an ongoing Sowing Change series about urban farming.

In the volatile landscapes of Afghanistan’s Kandahar province, David Flynn learned that a road is a lifeline for a struggling economy. Years later, as the CEO of AmplifiedAg, he is applying that same mission-driven mindset to a different kind of isolated environment: the U.S. correctional system.

AmplifiedAg has spent years honing the modular approach to indoor farming, using upcycled refrigerated containers to grow produce in environments where nature has largely bowed out. While the technology is sophisticated — involving proprietary internet-connected sensors and climate control — the most significant impact of this work is currently being felt behind the barbed wire of the Camille Griffin Graham Correctional Institution in Columbia, S.C., and the Central California Women’s Facility in Chowchilla, Calif.

Read more at The Packer