A group of Washington State legislators recently toured the Sustainable Prisons Project, a collaboration between Evergreen and the Department of Corrections at Stafford Creek Correctional Center.

The program, co-directed by Dr. Nalina Nadkarni, a member of Evergreen’s faculty and Dan Pacholke, Deputy Director of Prisons for The Washington Department of Corrections, and managed by Jeff Muse, M.S., brings science into prisons by training offenders and staff in sustainable practices.

The program has received national and international praise for its unconventional approach to offender education and its impacts on the economic, environment and human costs of prisons. Sustainable Prisons focuses on green-collar education and training, sustainable operations in prisons, and scientific research and conservation.

Senators Karen Fraser, Debbie Regala and Brian Hatfield and Representative Mary Helen Roberts took a tour of the program’s greenhouses and gardens, recycling and composting facilities, and the prison’s library and living quarters before watching a 7-minute multimedia presentation on the project titled “Connecting Prisons With Nature” (you can watch it here).

The legislators’ hosts highlighted the dynamic benefits of the program. From an economic standpoint, sustainability provides a cost savings; from a scientific one, the program contributes to climate restoration as part of its partnership with Fort Lewis and The Nature Conservancy.

Photo by Benjamin Drummond

Sustainable prisons also partners with Cedar Creek, McNeil Island, and Washington Corrections Center for Women, and activities include beekeeping, frog raising and horticultural education programs.

The next steps for the project including an assessment of their operations so far in the hopes that the successes of the program can become a valuable tool for prisons nationwide.

More information on the Sustainable Prisons Project can be found at the program website.