In an Oregon prison, butterfly technicians pose with their larvae, growing in cups under energy-efficient LED bulbs. From left to right: Marisol, Carolyn, Mary, Sarah. Photo by Tom Kaye or Chad Naugle.
By Kelli Bush, SPP Acting Director for Evergreen, and Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
Our summer newsletter highlights a selection of environmental programs in corrections. Most of these programs have been replicated across the country, and we have included a few international examples. Beyond these examples, environmental and sustainability programs are operating in prisons, jails, and juvenile facilities nationwide and around the world. Many extend the SPP-style model of ensuring benefits for everyone involved—these are not just cost saving measures.
In these articles, we share perspectives from inmates, corrections staff, and outside-prison partners, demonstrating the collaborative nature of the work. Connections with allied environmental programs have strengthened a growing movement to offer environmental education, access to nature, and sustainable living skills to incarcerated people. We get to continually learn from each other to improve and expand programs, collaborate on new initiatives and evaluate impacts.
Dog handlers of Freedom Tails at Stafford Creek Corrections Center pose for Atsuko Otsuka, freelance journalist and author, consultant for the Guide Dog Puppy-Raising Program and the Horse Program at Shimane Asahi Rehabilitation Program Center in Japan.
Together we are inviting people who are incarcerated to recognize the significance and relevance of their skills, talents, and contributions to the environmental movement. Honoring their creativity, experience, and resilience and adding the power of education creates potential for positive shifts in self-perceptions and agency. At the same time, we are working to add diverse and talented stewards to the environmental movement.
As a result of this growing movement, beekeeping is thriving in multiple states. Environmental education in correctional facilities is no longer so uncommon. Countless prisons are creating new standards for reclaiming and revaluing resources the rest of us are too likely to throw away. In Washington, we can barely keep up with the excitement and demands for sustainability programs in prisons. It is wonderful to be part of something big-hearted, socially inclusive, and life affirming!
Dog handlers of Freedom Tails at Stafford Creek Corrections Center pose for a photo.
I’ve been working with the Prison Pet Partnership at Washington Corrections Center for Women (WCCW) for years, and I’ve become fascinated with the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). I’ve written several books about the benefits of animal programs in correctional facilities, and I’ve successfully worked with the Japanese Ministry of Justice to establish the first dog programs in Japanese correctional facilities. My goal is to find ways to create more programs in Japan similar to those of SPP. I strongly believe that they offer a way to improve our society, the lives of our incarcerated populations, and the planet.
Technicians at the Sustainable Practice Lab at Monroe Correctional Complex proudly point to the “Thank you” poster from the recipients.
A nursing mother cat and her kittens are all cared for in the handler’s cell at Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women.
Over the past few years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting many correctional facilities in Washington where SPP is an important part of their programming and culture. My journey began with WCCW, Cedar Creek and Larch Corrections Centers. This year, I added visits to Mission Creek, Stafford Creek, Airway Heights and Monroe Correctional Complex. During these visits, I saw many wonderful programs that are expanding the worlds of the people incarcerated there, by giving them both environmental education and the opportunity to become better stewards of the earth. I was particularly impressed that all of the SPP programs I saw were designed to help their participants gain self-esteem and redemption by creating a way for them to give back to society. The passion and pride expressed by the program participants that I met was not only inspiring, but infectious.
The sage-grouse in the project’s new logo was drawn by a sagebrush program technician, Lawrence Jenkins.
By Stacy Moore, Institute for Applied Ecology Program Director, Ecological Education, and Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
“For the first time in my life I’m actually doing something right and I’m making a difference. Most importantly, I believe in what we do more than anything else in my life.” ~ Lawrence Jenkins at Washington State Penitentiary in Walla Walla, Washington
“Yes, I’ve made mistakes, we all have, but the one I don’t want to make is missing the chance to give back to the world that has taken care of me. Given the chance, you will see the goodness in us all.” ~ Toby Jones at Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview, Oregon (longer quote here)
The planting crew from Snake River Correctional Institution take a moment to pose with their sagebrush plugs. Photo by Institute for Applied Ecology (IAE) staff.
The programs grow sagebrush for restoration of greater sage-grouse habitat and to provide restoration ecology education and training to incarcerated men and women. Inmate crews, staff, and educators assist BLM in planting sagebrush each fall/early winter. We estimate that these programs will plant 445,000 sagebrush plants this fall!
These women work with and learn about sagebrush in the program at Montana Women’s Prison (MWP). Photo by IAE staff.
Captain McCorkhill at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility helps loads plugs ready for fall planting. Photo by IAE staff.
The Sagebrush in Prisons Project completes the full circle of a native plant’s life: from seed collection to sowing, daily care, and then planting mature plants in the fall. The program is a win-win-win for the inmates, community and the environment. Inmates giving back to the community gain a new perspective on how we treat our natural heritage and each other. The community and local habitats benefit through healthier ecosystems and more wildlife.
The program generates balance within our environment and within the everyday lives of incarcerated individuals. It gives them some access to work valued by communities inside and outside the fence, and also may be a source of meaning and pride.
It gratifying to hear what incarcerated technicians think of the program, and what it has meant in their lives. Here are more quotes from the project, these from Idaho State Correctional Center’s program, said by crew members as they boxed up sagebrush plugs for planting last October:
“In 19 years this is the first time I’ve been able to give back to the community.”
“It is a sanctuary out here. This is a huge blessing.”
“This brings inmates together when we can work on a project like this. It breaks the walls down where it doesn’t feel like prison so much.”
We are impressed to see a complex conservation program replicated and maintaining integrity in a variety of corrections systems—speaks to the strength of the model! We know that the program would not be possible without the efforts of inmates, corrections staff, educators, contractors, and partners. Thank you to all of you who make Sagebrush in Prisons Project possible and successful. It’s a dream come true.
I often ask myself the question: will the habitats and amazing native species still be here, and will they be here when my children’s children are grown up? Will they be reflecting on what could have been?
Where does the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) and Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS) fit into nature and wildlife, and how does it reflect in its aim of serving the public by keeping in custody those committed by the courts? Our duty is to look after inmates with humanity, to help them lead law-abiding and useful lives whilst in custody and following release. I’m glad to say that MoJ and HMPPS take these responsibilities seriously.
HMPPS estate is one of the largest within the MoJ portfolio, and the MoJ Estates Cluster is one of the largest built and non-built rural estates in UK Government. Thus, we face quite a challenge in protecting the property’s native flora and fauna. MoJ and HMPPs takes this responsibility seriously as well, so much so it implemented one of the first UK Government Department Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs). This goes some way to supporting the UK’s commitment to halting species’ decline, as well as fulfilling MoJ’s and HMPPS obligations to a sustainable and compliant Government estate.
A wealth and diversity of wildlife lives and thrives around individual prison sites; with over 147 prisons across the HMPPS estate in England and Wales, the diversity of wildlife is quintessentially very rich. There are nine prison sites which are nationally important Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs), including two European designated sites and two sites which are internationally designated for their wetlands and wading birds. With another 39+ sites of county and local biodiversity significance, the MoJ and its MoJ Ecology network are significantly challenged.
Social and Community Impacts
The MoJ Ecology network and HMPPS recognises that the actions and targets it has set for biodiversity can only be achieved through active support from corrections’ staff, and prisoners and local partners. By encouraging staff and prisoner involvement in all aspects of biodiversity within its estate, and through local community projects, HMPPS and the MoJ Ecology network can broaden its sustainable operations’ and social impacts agenda.
HMPPS and the MoJ Ecology network believe it’s important that all members of staff and prisoners should have access to green space and the natural world, for enjoyment, education and wellbeing. Nature’s biological diversity remains a source of constant enjoyment in people’s lives. Both the MoJ Ecology network and HMPPS aims to build upon its past successes in this field, to help form and bond closer links with prisoners and those that work in the local community promoting and protecting wildlife. Forming new partnerships and locally driven initiatives will aid in delivering BAPs, protecting important and declining wildlife, and in addressing other important social, health and wellbeing issues for inmates and staff.
The MoJ Ecology network and HMPPS consider that active management of its designated and wildlife significant sites and natural green spaces can improve the wellbeing of individuals, encourage Restorative Justice, and address offending behaviour programmes for prisoners. As the MoJ Ecology network and HMPPS works alongside such partners as Natural England, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, Bumblebee Conservation Trust, County Wildlife Trusts and other nationally recognised wildlife groups and various academics, it demonstrates how wildlife and life’s rich tapestry can have widespread benefits. This includes communities beyond the prison environments—prisoners can do meaningful work that benefits local communities, and obtain transferable learning and skills that will help them secure stable employment on release.
Broadening the opportunities for nature conservation and wildlife protection by developing activities that are enjoyable and inclusive for both staff and inmates enables them to explore and improve the sustainability of their everyday life choices and how they impact wildlife and the outside community. These opportunities are a key tool, in delivering such events and activities as our national BioBlitzes, our national Biodiversity Day and the annual HMPPS Wildlife Award.
The MoJ Ecology network and HMPPS considers that involving inmates in the protection of wildlife, events such as the HMPPS Wildlife Award, and managing priority habitats can give them a sense of accomplishment, a sense of achievement and more importantly, a sense of pride in themselves. Together these feelings and emotions can help prisoners not only get in touch with themselves, but help them become positive and active members of society and their local communities once more.
The technicians pose with their larvae, growing in cups under energy-efficient LED bulbs. From left to right: Marisol, Carolyn, Mary, Sarah.
Sarah shows how larvae have begun webbing in preparation for diapause.
The excitement generated by the new Butterfly Conservation Lab at Coffee Creek Correctional Facility is both palpable and contagious to anyone who visits. The buzz began this spring. Oregon Zoo staff began training program technicians to receive egg clusters and to raise larvae. At the same time, staff and inmates – skilled in trades from plumbing to quilting – worked to transform an empty room into a fully functioning, bright, and beautiful lab. The work being done here is groundbreaking: it expands recovery efforts for the endangered Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly from Washington to Oregon, and brings butterfly conservation work into a medium facility housing unit for the first time.
The technicians’ dedication to the work is reflected in successes so far this season. Their attentiveness allowed them to capture video of the first larvae hatching from their eggs. They enthusiastically welcomed 150 “ninjas” that were overlooked as egg clusters but suddenly appeared as larvae on our host plants. Recently, they accepted the responsibility for care of a single Oregon Zoo butterfly which elected to skip diapause (a period of dormancy, somewhat similar to hibernation), and head straight into pupation and adulthood several months ahead of schedule.
Ultimately, the technicians’ care has resulted in a 95% survival rate, measuring from the time the larvae were first big enough to count to entering diapause. Our program goals include having 500 larvae survive diapause in order to be released to the field next spring; with 935 healthy larvae currently ready to head into the overwintering stage, we are optimistic we will meet this goal!
Marisol shows a lab visitor how larvae climb to the lids of their cups to bask in the light.
Staff and technicians alike are deservedly proud of their work and of the lab itself. They actively seek opportunities to share their space and their new knowledge. They host tours, speak about the program at Toastmasters gatherings, and participate in special activities such as CCCF’s annual Through A Child’s Eyes event and a recent science lecture and media visit. Technicians share larval development with other women on their unit by displaying photos and information on the lab windows. In the technicians’ words:
“When I go to our butterfly lab, I feel a sense of peace in a world of chaos. I have a rare opportunity to sustain the life of an endangered species, which gives me a unique reward of being able to give peace back into the world.”
Sarah
“This program gives me an opportunity to give back to the Earth and not take things for granted.”
Marisol
“The Butterfly Program has been very beneficial to me as I know I’m doing something good for the environment. I also love the opportunity to work with a wonderful team!
Mary
“To be involved in this program means I am given the opportunity to be involved in my community here at Coffee Creek as well as an extension to the outside community through our partnership with the Oregon Zoo, ultimately helping to change Oregon’s environment one butterfly at a time.”
Carolyn
The butterfly crew stands under a quilt created for the lab by Oregon Corrections Enterprises quilters. From left to right: Marisol, Ronda, Mary, Sarah, Carolyn.
By Nalini Nadkarni, SPP Co-Founder, John Wasiutynski, Director of the Office of Sustainability for Multnomah County, and Joslyn Rose Trivett, SPP Education and Outreach Manager
The human race has been intimately connected with and dependent upon nature throughout its history. Our species gains numerous physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental health benefits through contact with the natural world; this has been strongly demonstrated by research in a variety of settings (see library curated by the Children’s Nature Network, and another compiled by a member of the faculty at University of Washington’s College of the Environment).
Dr. Nalini Nadkarni querying inmate on which of a variety of nature images are most appealing prior to showing videos in solitary confinement cellblocks, Washington Corrections Center, Shelton, Washington. Photo by Benj Drummond.
For some people, contact with nature and the outdoors is difficult or impossible. People incarcerated in “segregation”, maximum security areas, do not have access to the “yard” or any outdoor areas inside or outside prison fences. In these cases, vicarious nature video experiences may be the only possible contact with nonhuman nature. Nature videos cannot provide full relief from ofthe many emotional, cognitive, and physical stresses associated with segregation, but they can reduce stress, aggression, and other negative emotions. Plus, providing nature imagery to inmates imposes little additional burden on corrections staff.
Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office improved Inverness Jail’s Treatment Readiness Dorm with nature imagery. It’s a small change that creates a noticeable shift in the character of the room. Inmates’ response to this pilot was unanimously positive; following this success, staff have added nature imagery to nearly all the dorms in the two jails. Photo by Alene Davis.
Championed and supported by an inspired team, Nature Imagery in Prisons Project (NIPP) is gaining traction as a new standard for segregated housing and other areas of prisons. The NIPP team first conducted a study at Snake River Correctional Institution in Oregon, which resulted in definitive findings. Interviews of staff members revealed that although many were initially skeptical about offering nature imagery to inmates, by the end of the year-long study the majority of staff recognized the offering as potentially valuable. Staff respondents agreed that the inmates became calmer after viewing the videos, and that these effects lasted for hours, with less violent behaviors and fewer angry outbursts by inmates.
Incarcerated individuals in the program reported feeling significantly calmer, less irritable, and more empathetic. Analyses of prison records revealed that those inmates who watched nature videos committed 26% fewer violent infractions compared to those without videos. More detailed program results are available in the January 2017 issue of Corrections Today and a research brief from Oregon Youth Authority.
Nature Imagery in Prisons Project has gained high-level media attention from Time magazine, MSNBC, and the Oregonian, and will be the cover story for Frontiers of Ecology and the Environment in September. As of August, 2017, there are active and in-development programs in Alaska, Nebraska, Florida, Oregon, Wisconsin, Utah, and Washington State. Oregon (Multnomah County and state corrections) and Washington State have extended the concept beyond segregation, offering nature imagery in computer labs, staff areas, day rooms, and mental health/therapeutic-focused living units.
Results from the Snake River program and staff and inmate testimonials suggest that exposure to nature imagery can be helpful. It is a low-cost, low impact intervention that is helpful in reducing disciplinary referrals, violent behavior, physiological states, and connections and reconnections to nature. More research is needed to understand specific elements of the program, and inform application nationwide.
Acknowledgments: The research team for this project includes Tierney Thys, Patricia Hasbach, Emily Gaines, and Lance Schnacker. Funding was provided by the National Science Foundation, the University of Utah, and an anonymous donor.
This Nature Imagery room at Washington Corrections Center is accessible to 150 men with severe cognitive challenges, and can be a place for self-calming. One of the residents said, “My mind is eased. I like to be there all the time.” SPP’s Evergreen and WA Corrections staff discuss modifications that will improve the program space. Photo by Ricky Osborne.
By Toby Jones, an incarcerated technician in the Sagebrush in Prisons Project at Warner Creek Correctional Facility in Lakeview, Oregon. Thank you to Institute for Applied Ecology for sharing this piece with us, and to Mr. Jones for generous permission for wider use.
Photos and text by Emily Passarelli, SPP Green Track Coordinator
A special congratulations to Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women! This past Wednesday, they received two live hives donated with help from West Sound Beekeepers Association instructor, George Purkett. George is currently teaching 5 incarcerated individuals how to become beekeepers. I was present to see the first time the new beekeepers inspected the hives. They PET HONEYBEES (yeah, actually pet bees with a bare hand!), checked for mites (thankfully, no mites), and labeled the queens with a special marker. The photo gallery tells more of the story!
West Plains Beekeeper George Purkett uses the smokers to calm the bees before opening the hive.
Beekeeper George Purkett quizzes the incarcerated beekeepers on the health of the bees (the bees are doing great!).
Honeybee drones don’t have stingers, so they’re safe to hold without gloves! Photo by Emily Passarelli.
Honeybees are so docile you can pet them! They were warm and fuzzy.
After finding the queen, Mr. Purkett marked the queen with a special marker. She had to stay in the queen bee holder until the ink marking dried.
After the queen was released, the other bees surrounded her. Can you see her?
Varroa mites are one of the major honeybee killers. To test for them, George took about 200 bees and shook them with sugar. (Later, the bees enjoy cleaning and eating the sugar off their bodies!) The sugar pops the mites off. Thankfully, this hive is clean from mites!
Congrats to the newly certified staff and incarcerated beekeepers!
Text by Liliana Caughman, outgoing SPP Workshop Coordinator
Photos by Mark Sherwood and Kelly Peterson at SCCC
Liliana poses with Workshop students on her last day at SCCC. These two were particularly energetic and engaged, always participating in everything: they asked great questions, brought insight to environmental discussions, and were willing to hold snakes when needed!
It is strange how the past two years have flown by and it’s hard to believe that my time visiting prison has come to an end. It is stranger yet that many of the people I interacted with in prison will remain there for years to come. I can only hope that my small efforts made an active difference in the lives of the students, those who I saw month after month in SPP’s Environmental Workshop Series.
Mark Sherwood was a lively and dependable partner at SCCC. He bridged the gap between SPP and the incarcerated students and made sure the workshops were successful for everyone.
To me, the story of working with the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) is one of cooperation, patience, and unlikely friendships.
I was troubled by prison in many ways and became more cognizant of institutional discrimination. At the same time, I also encountered such beauty. I have seen in-prison gardens expand to cover acres and beehives spread across the state. I have seen a room of 80 grown men geek-out over octopuses and vultures and climate science. I have seen hardened corrections officers shift to a focus on rehabilitation and education and understanding. I have seen how—given sufficient opportunity—hope, happiness, progress, and creativity can flourish in any environment.
SPP’s work at SCCC could not happen without the ongoing support of Chris Idso. Here he says goodbye to Liliana. Chris is already so excited to get to know Erin and create more positive changes, like hosting workshops in the visiting room!
These valuable experiences will never leave me. As I continue my academic path, I will not forget about those behind bars or other vulnerable populations who are suffering. However, I will also remember the good people working in these institutions who are partners, fighting for change in the ways they know how. With all parties being valued, challenged, and heard, I know great things can happen.
Now the time has come for me to say goodbye and thank you to SPP and everyone with whom I partnered. I am proud to have been a part of this unique endeavor and look forward to watching it continue to grow.
I am also thrilled to pass on my position as Workshop Series Coordinator to Erin Lynam. With a focus on policy and passion for changing our system of incarceration, I know she will breathe new life into the program and continue its evolution.
Note: Roots of Success is an environmental program led by incarcerated instructors in 10 of 12 prisons in the state, and in many other corrections institutions statewide. In Washington, more than 1000 incarcerated students have graduated from the 50 hour course since 2013. More about the program here.
By Roots of Success Instructors at Airway Heights Corrections Center
Originally published by WA Corrections, Tuesday, July 11, 2017; re-printed here with permission
Roots of Success graduation photo from Airway Heights Corrections Center.
Roots of Success was created by Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes, a Professor of Urban Studies and Planning at the San Francisco State University, as the signature curriculum of the Environmental Literacy Curriculum Project (ELCP).
Originally, this curriculum was designed to increase environmental literacy, academic literacy, and job readiness skills. However, at Airway Heights Corrections Center (AHCC) this curriculum has taught inmates a fourth and much needed skill, “caring.”
In an inmate’s day-to-day journey through the Washington correctional system, and especially at AHCC, an inmate can often become disconnected from society. This has historically made the process of returning to their communities difficult. Dr. Pinderhughes’ program seeks to lessen that burden by closing inmate’s educational gap, and inspiring them to “consider the environment in their work and daily lives, develop leadership, and move people toward a place of action in order to support green pathways out of poverty, equitable green development, environmental and social justice, and community participation in decision making.” (Roots of Success, Instructor’s Manual, 2015)
After taking the course, many inmate have exhibited a profound change in their attitudes and social interactions with other inmates. In fact, AHCC administration has included this program in their “good time” restoration pathway as a means for inmates to earn back lost good time resulting from various rule violations. At the date of this article, several of the AHCC Roots of Success facilitators are successful graduates of the good time restoration pathway program. This is one of the many examples of this program’s positive impact on inmates residing at AHCC.
To find how Roots of Success has led to graduates caring more for their communities, one need to look no further than the City of Spokane, Washington, where they will find blankets made out of reclaimed used clothing (made by graduate volunteers), and fresh vegetables (grown by graduates). These resources are generated at AHCC by volunteer inmates, at no cost to tax payers, and donated to Spokane charities to help combat the cold and hunger felt by local children, individuals, and families in the Spokane area.
Already AHCC has had more than a hundred graduates of the Roots of Success program, and from those graduates, AHCC has been able to reach out into the Spokane community to begin a long needed healing process, which ever graduate now knows begins with them. What will the State of Washington and its citizens gain from this program? Mothers/daughters, and father/sons returning back to the state’s communities with an obtainable goal of helping build sustainable lifestyles. Why is this so important? We only have one state, and only a limited amount of resources – what better place to begin demonstrating how much we care?
Roots of Success covers 10 modules, each focused on a topic. The curriculum is solutions-based, designed to meet the needs of students not well served by mainstream education, and builds both workplace and community-based skills.
