Tag Archives: Education

Earth Day, Sustainable Prisons Project Style

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in Education Prison Life

Posted by undergraduate research associate Sarelle Caicedo.

Earth Day is here! People are often very creative in the ways they celebrate, and there seems to be no exception with Washington Corrections Centers. The Stafford Creek Corrections Center (SCCC)  held their Earth Day celebration event on April 14, 2010, and the Sustainable Prisons Project was there.

About 10 different environmental organizations and businesses set up information tables in a large visiting room in the Corrections Center.  This was the 3rd annual Earth Day at SCCC, and it was a great success. The inmates and the staff had very positive responses to the various information tables.

Greg Falxa explains a "bat condo," one of many constructed at Stafford Creek

Greg Falxa explains a "bat condo," one of many constructed at Stafford Creek

Greg Falxa, a bat biologist at Cascadia Research, came to the event with Sarah Clarke and Sarelle Caicedo, Sustainable Prisons Project student Research Associates. Greg will be giving the May scientific lecture on bat biology and conservation on May 12 at SCCC, so this visit enabled him to promote his upcoming talk with inmates and staff and build enthusiasm. Inspired by the growing success of the bird box project, inmates are now constructing bat boxes (known by the inmates as “bat condos”), and Greg was able to display a recently built bat box.  

Project Research Associates Sarelle Caicedo and Sarah Clarke with SCCC Superintendent Pat Glebe

Project Research Associates Sarelle Caicedo and Sarah Clarke with SCCC Superintendent Pat Glebe

Pat Glebe, Stafford Creek superintendent, was present, continuing to motivate and steer Stafford Creek’s efforts to be a leading practitioner of sustainability. 

Next week, on April 28th, Graduate Research Associate Carl Elliott and undergraduate assistant, Sarelle Caicedo will be giving a joint lecture at SCCC, and they are very excited! The topic of the talk will be prairie plant conservation and conservation of the Purple Martin and Western Bluebird. This talk has been of keen interest to he inmates because they have been involved in hands on projects concerning both prairie plants and these two species of birds. Carl and Sarelle have worked together in the past, propagating plants with The Nature Conservancy, and feel that their joint talk will go well. Stay tuned for details next week on how it goes, and happy Earth week!

Green-collar kites: Inmates share their ideas for sustainability

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in Education Prison Life Sustainable Operations

Blog post by Project Manager Jeff Muse:

Inmates often communicate through “kites,” traditionally a slang term for any hand-written note passed among offenders or to the outside world. What used be only secretive scribbling has become a formal system of communicating ideas and feedback to correctional staff and partners in the Sustainable Prisons Project.

During all of our activities, we ask inmates to share requests in order to deepen their investment in sustainability. In July 2009, offenders at the Stafford Creek Corrections Center wrote the following kites to express what they would like to learn through our green-collar education programs (courtesy of Stafford Creek employee Ruth Walker, who typed and sent these notes to me):

  • “I would love to learn about: 1) Residential solar panels and windmills – operation, cost, maintenance; what can I learn now so I can run a business selling by installing systems after prison? 2) Automotive hybrid (electric) transmissions, how they work – again, how can I learn and train now so I can sell and install such after release.”
  • “I am kiting in regards to your request for lecture ideas. A couple I can think of are water waste and pollution and the importance of turning a light off or the tv and how saving this energy will help conserve by doing the small stuff.”
  • “Wind energy – from commercial to residential to rural residential. Covering various types of windmills available and their supporting systems. Need information on the various mills and contact addresses-mail, phone, websites in order to locate all the mills available for personal and commercial use. Also, info on what each mill is capable of powering on its own off the grid. Low energy consuming appliances that can be used with and without being connected to the grid. Such as hot water heaters, stoves, fridges, and entertainment systems. These should be separate events as to be able to adequately cover the items. They should also follow each other as hand in hand so to speak.”
  • “Carbon-offset industry eg. Tree planting to offset CO2
    Wetland mitigation banking in Wash. State
    Green commercial and residential construction
    Green Publications (mags and books we can obtain to read)
    Residential solar and wind turbine systems setup and costs
    State and describe the big green nonprofits in WA State
    The Greenest for profit companies in WA
    Greenest modes for transportation people and freight/cargo
    Eating healthier in prison natural/organic items on store?  Allow 1 piece of fruit to be brought back from chain.”
  • “Discuss green business degrees. Traditional schools that offer accredited degrees through correspondence. Discuss certificates, Associates, Bachelors of PHD/Doctorate Programs. Maybe bring literature in. I received an MBA via correspondence while at SCCC, but wish it was a green MBA.”
  • “Green earth events suggestions. Water conservation techniques. Rain barrels, drip irrigation, green home water re-circulation systems; such as ponds with fish and plants, waterfalls, fountains used for aeration, cleansing and purifying used water from a home. Planters for growing herbs using grey water to water.”
  • “I was wondering, was Benj and Sara (multimedia consultants) going to come back and show us what they’ve created so far as to what they put on the web site? One idea would be to bring back those that have already been here to possibly expand on what they have reiterated already. This could be done in a two part event as to give each at least a half hr, with at least a half hr from 8-8:30 for questions.”
  • “Sewage disposable and treatment plants. Composting sewage, animal, mushroom, fish, wood waste etc. Warehouse Corp – wood waste, plywood and other wood waste manufactured products. Telephone/electric poles, fireplace logs from pulp, bark. Manufactured boards for houses and decks, fence post and boards, bolts and nuts, poles, recycling plastics. The destroying of farm lands for wall to wall urban housing and new roadways (instead of rebuilding existing roadways and bridges and rebuild them up above flood plains. Water systems for home usage, wells, springs and springhouses, cisterns, usage of rain water. Victory Garden and putting up storage of harvest. Off the grid home power vs. public power, wind, solar, water, generators, man powered, batteries. Finding many grants to buy farms, small business, tools, clothing etc. Insurance, medical, home, transportation, business.”