Editor’s note: Today’s post was written by an inmate and SPP lecture series attendee at Washington Corrections Center for Women. On May 7, Lynne Weber from West Sound Wildlife Shelter visited WCCW with Yukon, a red-tailed hawk, and Remington, a turkey vulture, to talk to the inmates about wildlife rehabilitation.
WCCW’s Science & Sustainability Lecture Series: An Inmate’s Perspective
By Jain Cannard,* WCCW
I have attended several Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) lectures here at WCCW and always come away having learned some amazing facts. The lecture today on raptors was an experience of a lifetime! Seeing those incredible birds up close allows us to better understand how our ecosystem works, and that each part of the chain is important and vital.
Lynne Weber and Remington, a turkey vulture, visited WCCW on May 7 and presented to a record crowd of 73 inmates.
Your work here at WCCW helps to make these women better stewards of their community resources, better parents, and better citizens. That’s important work!
Each lecture is so different – I look forward to learning and researching the subject so I can imagine what the lecture will be like. I am always surprised!
The surveys are also interesting. Who knew that opossums love slugs?! It’s good that SOMEONE loves them. The survey is a concrete way to ascertain how much we learn.
Thanks – please keep coming!
Wildlife rehabilitation specialist Lynne Weber and red-tailed hawk Yukon answered inmate questions about West Sound Wildlife Shelter.
Inmates had the opportunity to examine red-tailed hawk feathers during the presentation.
Lynne, Yukon, and Remington were a huge hit at WCCW! Photos by R. Stendahl.
By Carl Elliott
Conservation and Restoration Coordinator
Inmate work crews from the Washington Department of Corrections (WDOC) have worked in the community for over 20 years. These off-site crews maintain the infrastructure along highways and at parks and public facilities throughout the state. The Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) recognized the value that the crews from Cedar Creek Correction Center (CCCC), could bring to restoration work on south Puget Sound prairies. Through a close collaboration with the Center for Natural Lands Management (CNLM), Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Washington Department of Natural Resources, a CCCC community crew of ten men dedicated to prairie habitat restoration just began their first week of work.
The new crew’s enthusiasm and eagerness to learn was evident from the first day. Many expressed a sharp interest in the cultivation techniques of prairie plants at the nursery site and the seed farm. We expect their learning curve will be steep. Restoration on prairies is a complex and interdisciplinary undertaking. The crew will gain and improve skills in a wide variety of techniques, including plant propagation, noxious weed control, seed production and processing, prescribed fire techniques, and plant re-introduction.
The staff, officers, and inmates at CCCC have shown incredible support for establishing the new crew. SPP and CNLM look forward to providing instruction, resources, and guidance to the crews so their work will be an enriching educational experience at the same time as they contribute to regional restoration efforts. The on-going conservation programs at WDOC facilities raising Oregon Spotted Frogs, Taylor’s checkerspot butterflies, and prairie plants, will provide a foundation of curriculum, restoration reference materials, and protocols that can lead to the crew’s success. The investment and optimism shared by all parties suggests a bright future for this new endeavor.
Editor’s note: Today’s blog post was written by an instructor in the Roots of Success program at Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) in Walla Walla. Roots of Success is an environmental literacy curriculum used nationwide that has just been implemented at four Washington DOC facilities, including WSP. Interested inmates are trained as instructors in the curriculum. With staff supervision, they teach classes of their peers about a variety of environmental topics.
“Root View”: My Experience as a new Roots of Success Instructor by Michael Oakes, Roots of Success Instructor
What the heck is “Environmental Literacy” anyway? That’s an expression used a lot in the descriptions of the Roots of Success program. My assumption, as I signed up to become an instructor, was that it was like being “computer literate,” and that turned out to be pretty much on mark. The rest of my assumptions about the program were pretty quickly demolished when I stepped into the day-long instructor course, taught by Dr. Raquel Pinderhughes. I assumed this was likely to be a feel-good icing of basic information dumbed-down to be accessible. In reality, it turned out to be a re-packaged post-graduate curriculum. I assumed we would have a harried mid-level instructor basically providing an official stamp on a diploma-mill, and instead I found a professional, exacting teaching methodology taught to us by Dr. Pinderhughes herself.
Though I was pleasantly surprised and impressed, a question remained: Would inmate students connect with the material? Would this represent nothing more than yet another time sink for people trying to burn time any way they could?
My first indication that I was not alone in seeing the value of Roots of Success was in speaking with my fellow instructors, who came from a variety of backgrounds and had a broad range of views about world politics. Every one of them found some area of the curriculum where they connected and developed genuine passion. That provided some reassurance.
The next milepost came with my preliminary introduction to our students. As we spoke about the curriculum and how it would mesh with the greater sustainability program here at WSP SPL (Washington State Penitentiary’s Sustainable Practices Lab), I heard one guy say, “I never thought I would get jazzed about what earthworms can do.”
The author instructs fellow inmates on the first day of Roots of Success classes at Washington State Penitentiary. Photo by R. Branscum.
In speaking with them about seeking “green” jobs when their sentences are served, more than half of the students were immediately enthusiastic about the idea of work where they might be earning the same wages they are used to, but wherein they go to work every day knowing that they are working toward a cleaner, greener, more sustainable world.
Most of the students come from backgrounds flavored with despair and hopelessness, and the challenges to the environment can sometimes feel pretty desperate indeed. Roots of Success brings that key second component that has been missing in the worldview for most of us. It lights a path toward hope. It paints a picture of a conflict that, for once, is not only winnable, but a conflict that will have no losers at all. In that sense, the first “Root” of success is seeing the difference that even a pretty simple guy can make in a world where earthworms and honeybees are our fellow troops.
By Brittany Gallagher, SPP Evaluations Coordinator and Graduate Research Assistant
This winter, the SPP began its first statewide evaluation of the effects of SPP programming on inmate program participants. More than 400 offenders, including those who work in a variety of SPP programs as well as a control group of offenders not involved in sustainability-related programming, were invited to enroll in the study. The study was designed to examine the effects of participation in SPP programs on offenders’ well-being, plans for the future, and interpersonal relationships, as well as their environmental attitudes and beliefs.
In order to begin this study, students, staff, and faculty from SPP worked with researchers at Washington State University, the University of Washington, The Evergreen State College, and the Department of Corrections to design survey tools and complete a full Human Subjects Review (HSR) application. Once the HSR research application was approved, we submitted an additional application to the Department of Corrections for approval to conduct research in their prison facilities. SPP staff scheduled research visits to nine Washington prisons. During January and February, more than 375 offenders at these prisons completed surveys contributing to the study. Our thanks go out to prison staff and administrators who helped survey administration run smoothly and to the offenders who filled out the surveys.
SPP graduate research assistants have been busily entering mountains of resulting data, and early analysis has already begun. We presented study design and preliminary results at the recent SPP Network meeting in Salt Lake City, Utah and were well received. I will also present the study at CONFOR, an international conference for graduate students, held this year in Kananaskis, Alberta.
Stay tuned for updates–as I continue my analysis I hope to have much more to share!
by Robert Branscum, Correctional Specialist 3, Washington State Penitentiary
Gretchen Graber, Native Plant Greenhouse Manager for Washington State University (WSU), giving a presentation on native and invasive plants.
Washington State Penitentiary (WSP) has had its first Sustainability Seminar. It was a fantastic success. Gretchen Graber, Native Plant Greenhouse Manager for Washington State University (WSU), gave a presentation on native and invasive plants. She also brought both native and invasive specimens for hands-on learning. Gretchen did a great job. Special thanks to Brent Caulk and the West Complex education staff for the use of the classroom and projector.
Participants were very involved in the class: very attentive, asking many pertinent questions, and showing much interest in the subject matter. The offenders strongly expressed their appreciation at the end of the seminar and were still asking questions on the way out the door.
The seminar series is the product of cooperation between WSP, WSU, and the Sustainability in Prisons Project. Our plan is have a seminar every month, and upcoming topics will include barn owls, wolverines, waste water processing, and much more.
I am really excited about this program. The seminar series acts as an incentive, as offenders must exhibit good behavior for a sufficient period of time to attend. It also gives them something to focus their energy on, and I feel that it just takes ‘planting the seed’ of thought to grow some brilliant ideas. Most of all, it was purely awesome watching the offenders through the lecture. They were very engaged, asked relative and pertinent questions, and shared personal insights related to the subject matter. Four days later, I have received multiple shows of appreciation and requests for more, more, more. In response to the question of how to improve the seminar, one offender said “I couldn’t. More time. Have more or longer times.”
Our biggest hang-up is the limitations of class size. The classrooms currently available are relatively small, allowing for no more that 25 attendees. With over 70 offenders interested in participating we need more space! I am working to see what I can do to make this happen in the future. I feel that once we provide several successful seminars, we will have better footing to find a larger classroom.
Teams meet again to complete the launching of six new SPPs!
by Joslyn Rose Trivett, Interim Program Manager
Teams from the states of Oregon, Ohio, Maryland, California, and Washington as well as Multnomah, Santa Clara, and Los Angeles counties were hosted by the Utah team for a two and half day workshop. The workshop was the bookend to the conference held in Olympia back in September. Both meetings were funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF)–SPP Co-Director, Carri LeRoy and Senior Advisor, Nalini Nadkarni secured the funding to help new teams initiate programming based on the SPP model, and create an SPP Network. The same teams attended both meetings, and it was exciting and fun to be reunited.
Paul Sheldon, an expert in sustainable operations in prisons nation-wide, also attended both meetings, and at the second we gained Tommy Norris, Director of GreenPrisons.org. At the Utah workshop we were also blessed by the expertise of Sarah Galgano of the Vera Institute and Kathleen Gookin of Criminal Justice Planning Services, Inc. Conference evaluator Chuck Lennox of Cascade Interpretive Consulting LLC and facilitator Eric Mitchell of Fifth Ocean Consulting provided guidance on Network visioning, structure, and strategy. These experts’ diverse perspectives enriched the conversations and the outcomes of the workshop.
The agenda was action-packed, and communications ranged from tackling difficult questions to wide-ranging dreams for the future. Every team presented highlights of their progress and plans, and we were dazzled at how far they had come in six months. The group discussed tools created by our SPP-WA team that will support the Network and gave feedback and ideas for how the Network may best meet their future needs. I feel gratified at the efforts of our hosts and every team who attended. There was a great showing of optimism, creativity, and good humor. May we all meet again soon!
All photos are from the gala at the lovely Orangerie, an event that also included invites from local conservation, education, and restoration organizations. SPP Co-Director Dan Pacholke and Graduate Research Assistant Andrea Martin performed their TEDx talk and it was even better than the original. In addition, it was exciting to hear former inmate Craig Ulrich speak about his life-changing experiences with SPP-WA and current PhD research, and Tami Goetz (UT Legislative Science Advisor) discuss the need for expanded STEM (science technology engineering and mathematics) education. Hats off to SPP-UT for a terrific workshop!
Over 3500 caterpillars were at Mission Creek, waiting to be released
Diapause Survival
Congratulations and thanks are in order for the Taylor’s checkerspot butterfly technicians and staff at Mission Creek Corrections Center for Women (MCCCW), and everyone else who supports the program at Evergreen, the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), the US Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and the Oregon Zoo. To recap, last season we produced 3624 eggs, which was 180% of our target, then the caterpillars that hatched from those eggs reached summer diapause with 96.6% survivorship. For eight months they have been sleeping in small insect cups beneath overturned terra cotta pots, but now they are awake again and the numbers are in: 98.9% diapause survival.
Fifteen Taylor’s checkerspot caterpillars waiting to be released
After spending the summer being pampered by the inmate technicians at Mission Creek, the bulk of our caterpillars were transported to the established diapause facility at the Oregon Zoo. Five hundred were left behind as a trial group since it was our first season and we wanted to test the over-winter conditions at the greenhouse before risking a whole cohort. Of those five hundred, 100% survived! As always, our success is a credit to the meticulous, dedicated, and compassionate care provided by the inmate technicians. Every step of the way they have gone the extra mile, checking every detail twice as often as required, keeping records that no one ever asked them to take, and proving with every stage’s success that the faith placed in their abilities by our partners was well warranted.
Two teams releasing caterpillars at Glacial Heritage Preserve, near Littlerock, Wa
Post-diapause release
About 3400 of our federally threatened caterpillars are now munching leaves on the prairies at Glacial Heritage Preserve and Scatter Creek Wildlife Area, raising the total number of animals released the butterfly program at MCCCW from 701 to over 4000! Our biggest release of the year is just a week after diapause wake-up, so we had a wild week at MCCCW trying to feed breakfast to so many animals. Our supply of food plants was dwindling rapidly, but relief was in sight: sunny weather was forecast for Monday, March 4. We filled up seven coolers with caterpillar cups and sent them out to the prairie. Once there, a team of about ten biologists, students, and volunteers spent the day crawling backwards from host plant to host plant depositing 2-5 caterpillars on each one. It’s a painstaking process, but it’s important to make sure that the animals have enough host plant material to give them a good chance of making it to pupation, sometime in April.
SPP Graduate Research Assistant Dennis Aubrey helping caterpillars find new homes
Just 185 caterpillars remain in the captive colony at MCCCW. These are considered our “backup breeders”. We will raise them to adulthood so that we can rely on them for eggs if anomalous weather or some other unforeseen event causes wild populations to crash. Every year we aim to produce a new generation from wild-caught females, but the colony of backup breeders is arranged to maintain maximum possible genetic diversity for as long as possible just in case. The butterfly technicians at MCCCW are out there every day taking care of those 185 special recruits, giving them fresh leaves and raising them up like athletes in case they have to pitch in to help save their species.
Taylor’s checkerspot caterpillars enjoying some tasty leaves after being released
About a month ago, I began volunteering in the gardening programs at Cedar Creek Corrections Center (CCCC) through the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP). My experiences at CCCC have been very positive. I find myself really looking forward to my time spent there each week. It has been great working with the staff, from superintendant Douglas Cole, programs manager Charlie Washburn and volunteer coordinator Kim Govreau, to the officers I encounter each week. All have been welcoming of my efforts and presence, and I am especially thankful for their support and dedication to the gardening programs. I think they have truly tough jobs, and I am impressed by the positive attitudes and spirit they bring to their work. I see them show respect to inmates, and get respect in return.
I am grateful, too, to be working with a group of hard-working inmates. They seem to enjoy their work, and have responded kindly and welcomingly to my input. When I first began volunteering, I was worried about establishing my role with them. Recently, though, we have been so busy measuring garden plots, discussing what seeds to order and preparing the beds for Spring planting that I haven’t had much time to dwell on the fact that I’m in a prison working with inmates. They don’t do much to remind me of that either.
Of course, I am reminded whenever an inmate opens up about what led them to CCCC. And every time I hear myself called “Ms. Hart.” And when I am buzzed-through the control office to get to the gardens outside the fence. But when the inmates discuss their experiences working on the gardens, they remind me of any other gardener. Some talk about their time in the greenhouses as a reprieve from their daily lives, and the gardens as their own space to take care of. This month, everyone is itching to get growing.
Inmates applying a blend of organic fertilizers to the beds.
In the brief time I have spent at CCCC, I can tell that SPP doesn’t only impact the inmates by providing interesting and engaging jobs, but the programs also affect the way the facility is perceived, by staff and prisoners alike. On my first visit to the prison, Mr. Cole led our group on a tour of the prison grounds, stopping at their many different gardening plots. We discussed the history of each plot: what was planted there before, how the soil behaved, how it was watered. When I asked about pests, I was told about their deer problem: the gardening spaces that are situated outside of the fence are frequently munched on by deer coming out of the (seriously beautiful) surrounding state park. Mr. Cole then laughed and jested that the fence wasn’t actually there to keep the men inside, but really to keep the deer out. An inmate challenged that it still wasn’t doing a very good job of keeping out the raccoons who love to rummage in the open compost heaps. Suddenly, the tall, chain-linked, razor-wire fence lost some of its edge. I remember this story and smile when I see it, imagining stealthy raccoons successfully navigating corrections’ security system to sneak in to the prison to steal from the gardens.
Inmate watches hungry deer eyeing the garden plot.
Working for the SPP is a great experience at all levels. It all started a couple of months ago. I am in fact no expert when it comes to prairie plant identification nor working with inmates, but I work under the direction of very experienced people and I’m learning to polish my experience in environmental restoration.
Inmate filling trays with soil for sowing Indian Paintbrush.
I spend my time between three nurseries: Shotwell’s Landing, WCCW (Washington Corrections Center for Woman) and SCCC (Stafford Creek Corrections Center). My focus is on the SCCC nursery where I go once a week to help a crew of inmates with sowing and making sure they have enough soil, seeds, space for trays and any other materials that they might need.
I can say with confidence that working with inmates is not what it sounds like at all. Inmates are just people like you and me, people that have been down on their luck for one reason or another, people that are paying their dues to society and trying to make the best out of their situation. The majority of the inmates we work with are there because they want to get involved in something meaningful, or because they have a previous experience in nursery work, or are just trying to make some money and escape the routine of prison. But whatever brought them to us, I try to make it a good experience for them, get them involved in our work and help them understand the big picture of what we do and why we do it. It is easy to lose focus and interest in what they are doing when they spend a long time just sowing and not thinking about how helpful and meaningful their job is. Lectures about science, ecology, and restoration techniques are a good way to keep them excited and engaged. The last lecture they had was about science and religion, and believe me, it was amazing hearing what they already knew of the subject and the discussion that followed. We had the same lecture as part of my Master’s program, yet the discussion they had was far more captivating than the one in my class. Most of the offenders truly appreciate when we describe the ecological context of what they are doing because it helps them understand the impact of their labor and see how it fits into the bigger picture of conservation.
Many of these offenders are already highly knowledgeable about horticulture, pesticide application, landscape management and many diverse disciplines. Most of them are able to offer valuable input on nursery methods and are often pleased to contribute ideas, take initiative, keep record of the sowing schedule and make the nursery run smoothly. A crew of inmates can sow up to 140 trays a day which is very impressive, efficient and usually quality oriented.
I honestly look forward to spending time with inmates because I am able to learn so much and I appreciate what everyone has to say.
Staging area at SCCC from Thursday morning, Feb. 7, 2013.
Working With Offenders at Shotwell’s Landing Nursery
By Graduate Research Assistant Jaal Mann
When most people imagine offenders in a prison work crew, they probably see surly, unmotivated folks who don’t want to be there and may even be frightening. This couldn’t be farther from the truth.
Prison work crews make a large part of our conservation nursery work possible. They assist with everything, from cleaning and sanitizing used cells to sowing seeds and weeding germinating plants. Most offenders participating at Shotwell’s Landing nursery are highly motivated and want to learn. They are excited when they hear how their work is going to help conserve endangered prairie species, and it really seems to make them feel more connected to the world outside of prison. “I’d come out here every day if I could,” said one inmate as he prepared the lower hoop house for new seedlings that they would sow a few weeks later.
Many of these offenders are already highly knowledgeable about biology and horticulture. They are able to offer valuable input on nursery methods and are often pleased to contribute ideas to make the nursery run more smoothly. They take pride in their work, and most of the offenders truly appreciate when we describe its ecological context; they want to understand the impacts of their labor and see how it fits in to the bigger picture of conservation. In general, they are much more open-minded than many non-incarcerated people.
After a couple of hours working with offenders, people realize that while certain rules must be observed, working with prisoners isn’t such a frightening experience. The inmates are excited to work hard to help make a difference.