What used to be Claremont Custody Centre in California is now a bustling business, with cannabis growing in the garden while staff make edibles in the kitchen and assemble pre-rolled joints in the mess hall.

Brother-and-sister team Dan and Casey Dalton bought the 20-acre site in 2016 for $1.4 million (roughly €1.3 million), nearly wiping out the local council’s debts, NBC reports.

Reflecting on what former prisoners might think about the new use for the site, Mr Dalton said: “I think they would probably have mixed emotions about what we’re doing here. You know, I can only imagine if I serve time here for the same plant and then this is happening.”

The farm is donating part of its revenue to the Last Prisoner Project, a non-profit which helps to free people with cannabis convictions and expunge their records.

“Our saying here is we grow weed at a prison to help people get out of prison for growing weed,” Mr Dalton said.