The wastewater treatment at CBCC is very "low tech," but also very effective. Staff make the most of the aerated lagoon and polishing pond (shown in this photo). and exceeds the gold standard for reduction of Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Total Suspended Solids. Photo by CBCC staff.

Programs By Facility

In 2025, Washington’s 10 prisons reported around 159 sustainability-related programs and named 208 partner organizations across the state. In 2026, programs continue to grow, adapt, and thrive. Scroll through the facilities below to see facility-specific highlights from the most recent annual report.

An incarcerated beekeeper cleans up a frame from a hive in the McNeil Island program. Expert beekeepers work and learn alongside beekeepers from Cedar Creek Corrections Center twice a month throughout the flight season. Photo by Rachel Friederich.

Washington State Facilities

In February 2019, AHCC beekeepers and associates celebrated the prison bee club’s impressive accomplishments; in just a few years, incarcerated beekeepers and their partners have built a excellent program: productive, transformative, and sustainable. Photo by Kay Heinrich.

Airway Heights
Corrections Center

Airway Heights hosts a wide range of sustainability programs including beekeeping, large-scale gardens producing food for kitchen use and donation, and composting. It refurbishes thousands of computers for local schools and runs dog training, firewood donation, pollinator habitat, waste sorting, and worm farming.

Cedar Creek
Corrections Center

Cedar Creek engages incarcerated technicians in beekeeping, northwestern pond turtle rehabilitation, large veggie and flower gardens, recycling and composting. It partners on veteran dog training, forestry skills, construction, and water management projects. Cedar Creek’s crews also contribute community service hours to local restoration and cleanup.

Since 2013, CCCC has cared for western pond turtles, a state-listed endangered species. In partnership with Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, veterinarians at PAWS, and Woodland Park Zoo, incarcerated technicians and Evergreen staff care for turtles recovering from a shell disease, until they are well enough to return to their wild habitat. Photo by SPP staff.

The wastewater treatment at CBCC is very “low tech,” but also very effective. Staff make the most of the aerated lagoon and polishing pond (shown in this photo). and exceeds the gold standard for reduction of Biochemical Oxygen Demand and Total Suspended Solids. Photo by CBCC staff.

Clallam Bay
Corrections Center

Clallam Bay runs beekeeping, vegetable and flower gardens contributing food to local food banks, and a farmers market. They operate waste sorting, water catchment, wastewater treatment, and a cat adoption program. The facility emphasizes pollinator habitat and community recycling efforts.

Coyote Ridge
Corrections Center

Coyote Ridge’s programs include beekeeping and pollinator gardens, native plant and wildlife habitat restoration, and gardens producing food donated to pantries. It runs Ridge Dogs (an inmate-initiated pet program), service dog training, and composting. Land restoration and heritage garden projects honor local ecology.

Ridge Dogs is the only inmate-initiated-and-operated pet program in WA Corrections, and has a strong culture of empowerment and transformation. They also have the attention of a really great professional photographer. Photo by J. Devine Photography.

Monroe Correctional Complex hosts a world-class composting program within Washington State Reformatory. Incarcerated technicians started the program in 2010 with a literal handful of worms; since then, with great support from prison staff and leadership, they have grown the program to process 20,000 lbs. of food waste each month, with three kinds of “bugs” including 8.5 million worms. Photo by Erica Benoit.

Monroe Correctional
Complex

Monroe’s SPP programs include multiple beekeeping and gardening projects, nature imagery, and a cat care program. Incarcerated individuals gain skills in horticulture and animal care while contributing to facility sustainability efforts. The focus is on green operations and environmental engagement.

Olympic Corrections
Center

Olympic runs gardens, large-scale composting and recycling, wastewater treatment, solar power installations, firewood projects, community crews, and forestry work. These efforts support food production, renewable energy, Ecological Conservation, and local service.

Olympic Corrections Center staff describe their composting program to Joslyn Rose Trivett; they process the most organic waste of any prison in the state. Photo by Ricky Osborne.

Michael Gorski was one of many gardeners who asked to have their portrait taken in 2019. The photos were mainly for the gardeners’ families, but a few wanted to share on the SPP website as well. Photo by Marisa Pushee.

Stafford Creek
Corrections Center

Stafford Creek offers monthly environmental programs, beekeeping, a prairie Ecological Conservation nursery project, and gardening and composting classes. It engages in large-scale composting, waste sorting, pollinator plantings, water catchment, bike repair, dog training, toy drives, and diverse sustainability arts and tech activities.

Washington
Corrections Center

Washington Corrections Center’s SPP programs include a world-class composting “bugs” project, beekeeping, prairie Ecological Conservation, gardens, plant propagation, construction/service projects, dog training, chicken care, recycling, and environmental workshops. These initiatives blend sustainability with vocational training.

At the end of the summer, a gardener helps pull up irrigation tape at WCC. Photo by Ricky Osborne.

Washington Correction Center for Women (WCCW) hosts a very popular horticulture program, delivered by Tacoma Community College. Students attain credits toward an Associate of Arts degree, and tend food and flower plants throughout the grounds. Photo by Ricky Osborne.

Washington Corrections
Center for Women

WCCW offers monthly environmental programs, a prairie Ecological Conservation nursery program, gardening and pollinator planting with community partners, and beekeeping. It includes a Prison Pet Partnership, quilting and crafts supporting wildlife rescue, and waste sorting/recycling. Programs aim to build skills and community ties.

Washington State
Penitentiary

Washington State Penitentiary hosts the Sustainable Operations Lab (SPL) with many programs including gardening, composting, recycling, carpentry, furniture repair, aquaponics, and beekeeping. It also has a large institutional garden, waste diversion efforts, community crews, and the Sagebrush Steppe Ecological Conservation Program.

Each shop in the SPL is overseen by an incarcerated lead, and they often provide tours for visitors to the lab. Photo by Ricky Osborne.

Closed Facilities

MCCCW is really good at hosting special events. In March 2018, 150 incarcerated individuals were avidly engaged with three hours on astrobiology, the study of the origin and development of life on and off earth. Photo by Ricky Osborne.

Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women

Mission Creek led Ecological Conservation with a Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly rearing program and beekeeping, plus vegetable and flower gardens used in kitchens and pollinator habitat. It hosted animal programs (Pawsitive Prison Project), small-scale composting, water catchment, and bird habitat work.