A unique prison rehabilitation program launching in California may be the most powerful interpretation of farm-to-table the state has ever seen.

San Diegos Richard J. Donovan Correctional Facility is building sites for its new Farm and Rehabilitation Meals (FARM) program, a fresh project that hires inmates as farmers, teaches them sustainable agriculture practices and — if approved by prison health authorities — will put the produce on inmates cafeteria tables.

The facilities will first accommodate 20 inmate farmers, organizers told …