Washington Corrections Center (WCC)
| Program | Program Partners | Highlights as of December 2020 |
| Roots of Success, environmental course | Roots of Success | 35 grads so far, 3 instructors certified; long-time instructor is releasing soon. Future plans include working with the program liaison and facility leadership to either host an instructor training before the current Master trainer’s ERD to certify new instructors or identify a certified instructor to take over his teaching position. |
| Environmental Workshop Series | Guest experts from nonprofits, agencies, business, etc. | Temporarily suspended due to COVID-19; program launched in April 2018; continues to be going strong with increasing attendance (371 in FY19); 48 certificates awarded! |
| Prairie Conservation Nursery | Center for Natural Lands Management, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington Department of Natural Resources, Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Oregon Zoo, Friends of Puget Prairies, Wolf Haven International | In 2019, the program had the largest native Viola adunca production nursery in the world! 22 education sessions developed and delivered for cognitively challenged incarcerated students; produced 8 lbs. of early blue violet and 2 lbs of Viola howellii seed; planted out 6 new species to add diversity to seed supply |
| Beekeeping, “Intensive Bee Management Unit” | Olympia Beekeepers Association, Washington State Beekeepers Association | 6 hives in summer of 2019; graduated 6 incarcerated and 3 staff beekeepers in last year, 14 overall |
| Gardens and greenhouses | Thurston County Food Bank, The Saint’s Pantry Food Bank, Matlock Community Church, Hoodsport Food Bank | 2020 presented a challenging growing season due to both COVID-19 restrictions and unfavorable weather conditions. Despite these limitations, 15 crew members grew 30,140 lbs. on the 1.4 acre garden with 50% given to local food banks. |
| Flower gardens | Flower gardens throughout the campus | |
| Horticulture | Centralia College | Program ended in April 2019 |
| Potted plants and plant starts | Kiwanis Hoodsport; Saints Pantry Food Bank | For 2020, crews grew the requested starts for Kiwanis but they unfortunately could not accept them due to COVID-19 restrictions and donated them back to the prison. In 2019, crews grew 2,782 starts for the 2019 Hood Canal Kiwanis Spring Plant Sale; donated 800 plants to Saints Pantry Food Bank; gave away 1,503 to staff and incarcerated individuals’ families at various events |
| Construction: bus stops, tiny homes, Neighborhood Pantries, bird houses | Centralia College, Kiwanis Hoodsport, Hood Canal School District | Temporarily suspended due to COVID-19; Carpenters obtaining college credit while working on neighborhood projects: starting to build tiny homes; built and donated 3 bus stops; built 9 more pantry boxes for Kitsap neighborhood food sharing; bird boxes for WCC grounds. |
| Nature Imagery | Nature video channel available on-demand in 62 Intensive Management Unit cells (small screens) | |
| House plants | Plants in all shared and staff areas, provided and maintained by Grounds Maintenance crew | |
| Large-scale composting | Before composter broke down, diverted 69.53 tons (139,060 lbs. of food waste) to produce 50,280 lbs of finished compost, spread on gardens and flower beds. Still working on getting new composter; compostable material sent to an off-site facility in the meantime | |
| Vermiculture/Soldier Fly and Bokashi Composting | Greenhouse available to start vermiculture program. Started with 5 worm bins, now have 10. Used thermal heating during winter months to help worms reproduce. Using food scraps from the facility for this program. | |
| Waste sorting & recycling | Diverted more than 218 tons of metals, cardboard, and paper to recycling (discontinued plastics diversion; no buyers) | |
| Shoe and clothing repurposing | Correctional Industries | DOC facilities send used clothes to WCC for reuse and recycling; despite limitations due to COVID-19, incarcerated workers processed ~12,000 lbs of t-shirt, boxer shorts, and socks in past year |
Articles about WCC
2019
Welcoming New Roots Instructors!
2018
Cross Pollination: Violet Program Presents in the Workshop Series
Workshop series expands to WCC! (take two)
Blooms & Blossoms at Washington Corrections Center
Workshop series expands to WCC! (take two)
2017
Farm to Table Celebration at WCC
Nature Imagery in Prisons Project
2016
Lecture Series expands to Shelton
2015
Team building for native violets at Washington Corrections Center
Beds for Violets at Washington Corrections Center: Building SPP’s newest conservation nursery!