Nourished by the compost processed on site and tended to by caring hands, the gardens at the Washington Corrections Center (WCC) are impressive bursts of color against the green Pacific Northwest landscape. In the summer the beds are filled with marigolds, cosmos, sunflowers, poppies and more, and they are a source of pride for the incarcerated gardeners.
Flower beds at WCC. Photos by Emily Passarelli.
One garden in particular offers not only an opportunity to learn gardening skills, but a way for indigenous gardeners to connect to their community and culture. The Tribal Sons Medicine Garden is home to medicinal and culturally significant plants such as sage, lavender, and cedar trees. Creation of the garden was spearheaded by indigenous community members, and it now provides a place of solace, growth, and connection.
A sign created by incarcerated individuals for the Tribal Sons Medicine Garden. Photo by Emily Passarelli.
Some of the herbs grown in the garden are used for ceremonies performed by tribal members in the facility. Since Native Americans are incarcerated at roughly 3.6x the rate of white people1, it is crucial to provide opportunities like the Tribal Sons Medicine Garden that allow them to continue stewarding their ancestral lands.
An incarcerated contributor to the garden was recently quoted in a King 5 article regarding his experience of the healing powers of the medicine garden: “This is harmony, this is peace, this is serenity,” he said. “This is healing, this is restoration, this is rehabilitation.”
Medicinal herbs recently planted in the Tribal Sons Medicine Garden. Photo by Emily Passarelli.
During a recent Foundations in Composting class meeting, students performed a soil test in the medicine garden with the help of composting expert Sally Brown. Halfway through the test, the chunk of test soil dropped suddenly back to the ground. “They wanted it back,” one of the indigenous gardeners joked, “the ancestors wanted the soil back.”
1 Vera Institute of Justice. (2019). Incarceration Trends in Washington. Retrieved from http://www.vera.org/state-incarceration-trends.
Written by Derek Thedell, Composting Education Coordinator
At SPP, we believe collaboration is key to successful, resilient programs. One collaboration we are excited to share about isthe Foundations inComposting education course, whichhas been in development since the summer of 2021. With the support of a generous donor, many partners, and Institute for Applied Ecology’s Sagebrush in Prisons Project the new course will be available in Washington prisons and offered atthe Lovelock Correctional Center in Nevada!
Greenhouse and thermophilic composting bins at WCC in Shelton, photo by Emily Passarelli.
This curriculum is modeled from the Foundations in Gardening course written in 2020 and focuses on the science and impacts of composting from small to commercial scales. The curriculum will also introduce careers in sustainability and include cultural and historical components throughout the curriculum. Additionally, once completed, we will present it to The Evergreen State College for review for college credit.
Module or chapter development is currently in progress and includes input and voices from experts in our communities including incarcerated individuals, corrections staff, formerly incarcerated individuals, Evergreen Master of Environmental Studies graduates, local composting experts, Tilth Alliance, Centralia College staff, and professors at the University of Washington. You might recognize a few faces and voices, including Nick Hacheney and Juan Hernandez who were composting leaders at the massively successful composting program at Monroe Correctional Center.
Alongside expert composters, Foundations in Composting will feature information from significant written resources, such as Teaming with Microbes by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis.
Last November, SPP had the privilege of hosting a course planning meeting at the Washington Corrections Center (WCC) in Shelton. Collaboration is a fundamental part of the SPP program development process. Bringing in the voices and input of the incarcerated composting educators and technicians, Department of Corrections staff, and community experts helps assure that our program is inclusive and well-rounded.
Active worm bin compost managed by the sustainability crew at WCC, photo by Jennifer Bass.
Currently, the sustainability crew at WCC, led by Corrections Specialist 3 Jeff Sanders, has several active composting projects including thermophilic piles (pictured), bokashi, vermicomposting using worms (pictured) and black soldier flies. SPP hopes to provide an educational opportunity to supplement these active projects in the future using this curriculum.
The compost at WCC is utilized in their many gardens, and the black soldier fly larva are even used to feed the chickens! Photos by Jennifer Bass.
Development of the curriculum is slated to be finished by spring, with the pilot program in Nevada getting started quickly after that. Until then, we will continue to write, edit, and edit some more for this exciting new program. One thing is for sure, the future of composting education in prisons is bright!
By Erica Benoit, SPP Special Projects Manager and Kelli Bush, SPP Co-Director
We at SPP are all deeply aware of how difficult this past year has been. It has been especially hard for the people living and working in prisons. We acknowledge the loss and suffering experienced by incarcerated people, their families, and corrections staff. Our thoughts are with our fellow humans everywhere—may we all have better days ahead.
Like many organizations, SPP has also faced a slew of competing challenges. Over the past year we have shifted to working remotely, navigated major staffing changes resulting in a smaller team size, and supported multiple team members through health issues. We are continually processing the overall health and safety impacts of COVID-19 and loss of in-person interaction with students, partners, and our small team at Evergreen. Despite these challenges, we are hopeful for better horizons. We are reaching out to share how SPP is making the best use of these challenging times; we are simultaneously practicing patience and resilience every day.
Human health and safety are our top priority over program operation. As a result, the vast majority of SPP programs have been suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic. We are still supporting operation of a few programs, but only where interactions with SPP staff can be masked, socially distant, primarily outside, and with access to proper resources for hand washing and cleaning high touch surfaces. Programs which have continued under these circumstances and in accordance with approved COVID plans include the prairie conservation nursery at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW), the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly program at Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW), and a few peer-led education programs at various facilities.
Keegan Curry from SPP safely helps out with the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly program at MCCCW. Photo by Marisa Pushee.
Despite major program suspensions, SPP staff have still been hard at work on projects in three main focus areas: remote education, proposal development, and policy/guidance work. We hope that the behind-the-scenes work done in these areas will have lasting benefits when programs are able to safely restart. Brief details on some specific projects (most still in progress) are provided below.
Remote Education
Beekeeping
Curation and delivery of monthly educational packets to all facilities
Development of higher-level beekeeping certification (in progress)
Working with Washington Department of Corrections and education organizations to develop policy and guidelines for successful peer-led programs in prison (in progress)
Working with The Evergreen State College to draft new policy to that will support granting college credit to currently incarcerated program participants successfully completing SPP certificated internship programs
Research to address barriers limiting access to fresh produce in prison and considering development of food handling education to improve ability for prison kitchens to utilize fresh produce from facility gardens (longer-term project)
Lastly, we are actively drafting our latest Annual Report, which is expected to be published sometime in spring. Be on the lookout for this report for full updates regarding SPP programs and initiatives from July 2019 through December 2020.
Text and photos by Erica Benoit, SPP Environmental Workshop
Series Coordinator
Note: please be aware that at least one individual featured in this story and in these images has victims who are concerned about re-victimization; any sharing or promoting of images should keep that risk in mind.
The composting program started by two incarcerated men at the Monroe Correctional Complex (MCC) has fascinated many visitors and sparked international interest. Workshop students at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center (SCCC) were no less eager to hear about this program directly from one of the founders: Rory Brown. Rory is currently incarcerated at SCCC, where he is a regular at the workshop series. In May, Rory got his first chance to stand up in front of the men he usually sits alongside. His compost program origin story was one of determination and resourcefulness.
Rory recounted how he and his counterpart, Nick Hacheney, identified food waste as an issue at MCC. With staff support and no funding, they began to scrounge up discarded materials to create worm bins. After some trial and error, they were successful; from almost nothing, they created a system that limited the facility’s food waste. The program has continued to grow over the last 9 years and is now able to process 20,000 lbs. of food waste every month.
Along with his personal anecdotes, Rory brought an excellent demonstration that showed how worms break down organic materials and shredded paper to create high-quality fertilizer that can be used in gardens. He also passed around worm castings and the finished compost product for all students to examine.
The session was co-presented by Joslyn Rose Trivett. She provided an overview of SPP’s three spheres of sustainability as well as updates on MCC’s composting program since Rory left the facility in 2014. The current compost technicians at MCC also made an appearance through a video filmed at the facility back in January. In it, they talked through the process of composting with worms, as well as their most recent endeavors with other kinds of bugs that process food waste: Bokashi and black soldier flies.
The workshop concluded with an inspiring TEDx Talk by Nick Hacheney. One workshop student enthusiastically told us that the video should be required viewing at all prisons; it demonstrates that incarcerated individuals have the power to create sustainability.
Text includes excerpts from speeches by: Certified Vermiculture and Composting Specialists Juan Hernandez, Rudy Madrigal, and Nick Hacheney, with introduction by Kelli Bush, SPP Director for The Evergreen State College
Photos by Kelli Bush and Bethany Shepler, SPP Green Track Coordinator
Certified Vermiculture and Composting Specialists Juan Hernandez practices his speech before the graduation ceremony.
Monroe Correctional Complex – WA State Reformatory Unit (MCC-WSRU) recently graduated it’s first class of certified Vermiculture and Composting Specialists. Reaching this milestone is the result of a truly collaborative process, with contributions from incarcerated program participants and education instructor, WA Corrections staff, Tilth Alliance, University Beyond Bars, and Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) staff at The Evergreen State College. The success of this diverse and mutually-invested team is a model for collaborative work; the shared accomplishment offers an abundance of hope for tackling other social justice and environmental challenges.
Tilth Alliance Program Coordinator, Justin Maltry (left) worked with partners to develop the certification. Corrections Officer Swan (pictured behind Justin, wearing a hat) was also critical to success effort.
The composting program at MCC-WSR was started by Nick Hacheney and corrections staff member Art King in 2009. Since that time, it has grown from a few hundred worms to a world-class program using multiple, innovative composting techniques. Not only does the program help significantly reduce food waste at the facility, but also provides participants extensive education, training, and opportunities to research and practice innovative composting techniques. Along the way, incarcerated participants have recruited input and assistance from professors, practitioners, and organizations around the country, and have found ways to improve on and fine tune their composting systems. Program protocols developed by incarcerated participants have been shared to start similar programs in other prisons and with non-profit organizations doing environmental and humanitarian work around the world. All of this work is done with tremendous support from corrections staff from MCC.
The graduation event was well-attended and included excellent speeches from graduates. Excerpts from their speeches follow.
Certificate development partners from WA Department of Corrections (CPM Anne Williams & Officer Jeff Swan), Tilth Alliance (Justin Maltry), and SPP (Kelli Bush) congratulate Juan Hernandez on his achievement.
Juan Hernandez
“I know for me it’s been a long journey to be standing here in front of everyone today, but I wouldn’t change a thing, because along the way I have grown as a man and human being and I’ve learned so much. Today marks the day in which we can officially declare that we finished one of our biggest goals–completing the vermiculture and composting specialist certification. We have been working on this for about a year and getting to this moment has certainly been quite a journey through blood, sweat, tears, and stress.
This certification has not only enriched my life here, but I believe that it will truly give me opportunities when I get released to find employment and follow a career in sustainability. So today I stand in front of you a man with a dream but not only that; here stands a man with a dream and the skill-set to follow that dream and make it a reality. I started my journey of sustainability after my journey for bettering my life had already started. I now see that my two journeys are closely intertwined.
This program and programs like this are not only important but essential to guys in here in regaining their humanity and getting them ready for reentry into society.
I believe that not only do we recycle food waste, but we also recycle people. And so, with that, I leave you saying this: please don’t judge a person by their mistakes, but judge them by how they learn from their mistakes.”
Juan Hernandez talking with Rudy Madrigal and Tilth Alliance Program Coordinator, Justin Maltry, about the Black Soldier Fly composting program.
Rudy Madrigal
“About a year and a half ago my friend Nick told me that they really needed some workers at the worm farm and he asked if I would consider working back there. I’m not going to lie; I was dodging him for a while. But finally he got me to commit and I went out for an interview.
I’m not going to confirm or deny that I may have come for the promise of desserts. What Nick did try to convince me of was that I was going to be helping the environment, that this program would grow and become what we wanted it to be, that I would be given the right tools to succeed both in here and on the outside, and that in the end I would be recognized for all my hard work. Well everything my friend told me that day was true, and it happened! And that makes this day such a special day for me.
Thank you Nick for being a great friend and mentor, for challenging me, for always holding me accountable, telling me the truth, even if it hurt a little bit, for changing the view I had on the world and helping me realize the impact that I have on it, and for trusting me with the black soldier fly program.”
At the worm castings sifting table, Rudy Madrigal shakes hands with Sgt. LaMunyon.
Nick Hacheney
“Days like today don’t happen often in prison and it really means a great deal to us that you have decided to spend this time here.
First, we would like to thank all the DOC officials in the room. These types of programs would not happen if it wasn’t for the vision and courage of prison officials. Administrators take risks to make programs like this happen. They have to find money in ever-shrinking budgets and they have to bravely promote a narrative that prisoners are capable of great things and worth making an investment in.
We had the right ingredients here in staff willing to work with us, support from community partners and men who got busy making a difference in their world. So thank you to all.
It will surprise most people to learn that prisoners actually care about big issues like global warming and water quality. But these guys are more than prisoners – they are fathers who care about the world their children are growing up in; they are environmentalists who care about the planet; and they are advocates who understand the needs of a growing world population.”
Nick Hacheney helped found the composting program at MCC and develop program education materials and vermicomposting certificate.
Composting Technicians talk with Sgt. LaMunyon as they sift worm castings.
