Community Contributions

Community Contribution programs are supported by hundreds of organizations across the state. Most developed as a relationship between a single facility and nearby community organizations, often non-profits. Typically, the community organizations are already engaged in work that benefits the community; creating a partnership with a prison means the organization can offer benefits to more people. Many Community Contribution programs were established long before they were considered part of SPP; many were already identified by their own branding. SPP seeks to add to the programs’ identities, and to document and promote their achievements and best practices.

For the corrections facility, partnering with community organizations provides incarcerated individuals with more options for meaningful work, and allows them to contribute to the world outside the secure perimeter. For many incarcerated individuals and corrections staff, these programs provide a welcome relief from an otherwise stressful and stark environment. Here we highlight some of these programs; for full details, see the Community Contributions section of SPP’s annual reports.

Reclaim, Repurpose or Restore, and Donate Programs

This view of an area of WSP’s Sustainable Practices Lab (SPL) gives some sense of the lab’s incredible productivity.

Consistent with the earliest days of SPP programs, WA prisons strive to “throw nothing away,” to transform potential refuse into something of value. In some cases, these programs’ creations directly meet an organization’s need: donating quilts to a homeless shelter, refurbished computers for schools, and growing produce for food banks. In other cases, programs donate handmade or restored creations for organizations’ fundraising events. The productivity and generosity of these programs are best illustrated by statewide numbers:

Dog and Cat Programs

Dog handlers at Cedar Creek Corrections Center train dogs to the specific needs of the veteran who will later adopt the dog. Photo by Jody Becker-Green.

Dog and cat programs are common in prisons across Washington State. Nearly all of Washington’s prisons have formed one or more partnerships with community nonprofits to create pet programs. Incarcerated individuals receive support from partner organizations to provide excellent animal care and obedience training, and—in a few cases—service and/or therapy training. We have heard from incarcerated people and corrections staff that pet programs are a benefit to all directly involved, and to the larger prison community as well. Sometimes, participants of these programs say that working with dogs or cats transformed them.

“I’ve had a chance to transform a dog’s trauma into joy through love and discipline. In the end, my efforts liberated not only the dog, but me as well.” 

Here is an overview of dog and cat programs reported by host prisons in September, 2018.