GreenPrisons will be exhibiting at this year's South Carolina Criminal Justice Conference November 17-20 at beautiful Myrtle Beach. I you're going to be at the conference be sure to come by the booth and say hello. For everyone who does and mentions seeing this blog there will be a special gift while they last. Our workshop is at 8 AM on Monday, and we will be talking about the financial and programmatic advantages of sustainable practices in corrections. We hope to see you there!!!
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Saturday, October 19, 2013
The Construction Management Institute Looks at Sustainability
GreenPrisons had the opportunity to attend the most recent Construction Management Institute (CMI) October 14-16, in Colorado Springs. This gathering of facility managers from around the country proved to be not only informative but a great chance to network. The program was chock full of informative workshops and all were well attended.
GreenPrisons was joined in our presentation by Charlie Slavik and Don Crawmer of Solar America Solutions. Together we discussed the financial advantages of solar energy using UV rays to heat hot water. Specific examples were provided from their instalation at the Wabash Valley Correctional Institution which has produced a 52% savings in the facility's cost to heat hot water since last January based on numbers collected by Indiana Department of Correction staff.
There was also significant interest in the green cleaning solotions provided by CorrectPac. Those institutions involved in accreditation were particularly interested in the assistance CorrectPac provides to support documentation in meeting the "Green Standard".
This was a very useful conference and we will be back next year when they meet in Indianapolis, IN. Watch the GreenPrisons home page for dates and the opportunity to register for this national event
GreenPrisons was joined in our presentation by Charlie Slavik and Don Crawmer of Solar America Solutions. Together we discussed the financial advantages of solar energy using UV rays to heat hot water. Specific examples were provided from their instalation at the Wabash Valley Correctional Institution which has produced a 52% savings in the facility's cost to heat hot water since last January based on numbers collected by Indiana Department of Correction staff.
There was also significant interest in the green cleaning solotions provided by CorrectPac. Those institutions involved in accreditation were particularly interested in the assistance CorrectPac provides to support documentation in meeting the "Green Standard".
This was a very useful conference and we will be back next year when they meet in Indianapolis, IN. Watch the GreenPrisons home page for dates and the opportunity to register for this national event
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Talking Trash
On a dreary August day, the
Wallkill Correctional Facility of New York State looms large against the
overcast sky. Approximately 80 miles north of Manhattan, Wallkill is a medium
security, 500-bed men’s facility that opened in 1932. Designed by renowned architect
Alfred Hopkins, the building’s gothic structure is impressive. The main
building, surrounded by razor wire, sits on acres of corn and soybean fields
and is adjacent to a maximum-security facility that backs into a horse farm for
retired thoroughbreds. Inmates from Wallkill tend the horses as part of their
offender workforce programs.
Though known for the manufacturing
of eyeglasses, the Wallkill facility boasts a robust recycling program that
functions as one of eight regional Hub Recycling Centers throughout the state
corrections system. The program was started in 2011 in order to comply with Executive Order No. 4 which was issued by Governor Andrew
Cuomo. This Executive Order established a State Green Procurement and Agency
Sustainability Program, and directed state agencies, public authorities, and
public benefit corporations to “green” procurements and implement
sustainability initiatives.
The New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS), Division of Industries or "Corcraft", runs the recycling program. Over the last three fiscal years, the statewide program has processed over 39 thousand tons of recycled materials which resulted in approximately $5 million in cost diversion for waste hauling and tipping fees by diverting the waste from landfills. The sale of recycled materials on the open market during that time generated $1.6 million dollars in revenue, which was returned to Corcraft’s “enterprise account” to specifically support the continuation and growth of recycling throughout the New York DOCCS.
Inmates are employed in the daily
recycling of paper, cardboard, metals, and textiles. They run machines that
shred paper or crush plastics, tin, and aluminum, compress them into bales,
catalog and document the materials and tonnage, and drive forklifts to move the
bales to a storage warehouse before they are sold and shipped. On par with
other offender workforce programs, the inmates are paid .26 - .45 cents an hour
for their work. The enterprise account pays for this salary as well as
necessary equipment and other correctional personnel.
Recycling Work(s)
Wallkill’s Superintendent Tim
Laffin’s experience and authority is understated, but demonstrated as an inmate
rushes to tuck in his shirt when he sees the Superintendent approach. Mr.
Laffin has successfully imbedded recycling into the culture of the Wallkill
facility. Every inmate plays a role and has a personal responsibility to
separate their waste into compostable and recyclable materials. Inmates may be
cited for failure to separate waste, though the citation is rarely necessary.
One of the highlights of the program for Mr. Laffin is the real-world training
that the recycling program provides offenders. “We used to have a dairy
operation on the farm, but when you teach an inmate to milk a cow and then send
him back to Brooklyn, there’s not a lot of opportunity for employment.” Inmates
who work in the recycling facility gain experience with transferrable skills
such as driving a forklift, working in a warehouse, and operating other
machinery. One inmate who was to be released in the near future indicated that
he had a construction job lined up on the outside and had been able to leverage
his experience in the recycling program for that position.
Bob Kennedy, Assistant Commissioner of Correctional
Industries and Accreditation for the DOCCS is one of the creative forces behind
the recycling program. Kennedy is a
dynamic leader whose vision of recycling as an income-driven industry is key to
the program’s success. According
to the National Correctional Industries Association:
Correctional
Industries are the work programs in correctional facilities that provide real
world work experience to inmates, teaching them transferable job skills and
work ethic to help them prepare for post-release reentry and employment. They
are the only self-funded reentry support program in corrections – no
appropriated funds are required for their operation since they rely on revolving
funds from the income generated by the sale of the products and services they
produce through the program.
Kennedy says, “The
recycling program fits the Industries model due to the revenue generation, and
providing job skills to inmates who have met educational and other programming
needs while incarcerated.”
Challenges
At the Wallkill facility, the
recycling program is housed in buildings “outside the fence,” meaning that
the
inmates who work on recycling, though they are still on the grounds of the
correctional facility, are literally beyond the barbed wire security fence in
an unsecured area. This limits the number of inmates who are eligible to work
there. Each individual worker must have a High School Equivalency diploma or be
enrolled in a High School Equivalency Program and must meet specific security
requirements before being considered as a potential employee.
The recyclable materials
themselves are another source of concern. Tim
Bender, Assistant Director of Industries Resource Recovery who oversees the
statewide recycling program laments
the loss of the market for recycled mattresses. “They stopped taking them because
they were overwhelmed,” he says of the facility that had been purchasing the
collected mattresses. “We have to ship them to Arizona now, and that’s not cost
effective.” They are in the process of identifying a new buyer for this
lucrative material. Additionally, he says that the markets for some types of
plastics and cardboard have fallen off because China is no longer buying them in previous quantities.
Corcraft consistently bids out the sale of the recycled materials, searching
for the highest market value, which is key to the program’s continuation.
What’s next?
When asked to predict the future
of recyclables and where he is putting his money, Mr. Bender says, “Cardboard,
paper, and plastics are the meat and potatoes. I don’t see that changing
anytime soon. For corrections, a lot of the food vendors are moving away from
tin and metal packaging because of the safety issues and are starting to use
plastic pouches. The challenge with those is that they are hard to clean, but
they are a safer option.” No materials can be recycled if they are soiled, so
as part of the process, inmates wash and dry all plastics and metals before
they are added to the recycling waste. This creates an opportunity for
correctional facilities to drive the market by encouraging vendors to create
packaging that is safe, but also recyclable.
Though recycling in correctional
facilities is not news, New York’s DOCCS has figured out how to make the
program income-driven while offering a practical workforce training option for
offenders. The program not only removes trash from landfills, but also saves
taxpayers millions of dollars each year. Having the program run by Corcraft
puts it in the hands of administrators whose directive is to run a successful
business. In this case, success is defined by the program paying for itself,
and reaching Governor Cuomo’s goal to reduce 50% (by weight) of waste generated
across all government departments. When asked if they have been able to achieve
that goal, Mr. Bender grins and says, “Not yet. But we’re getting there.” With
last year’s total recycled tonnage at more than 13,000 tons, even if that’s not
quite 50%, it’s an accomplishment many state correctional systems would be
happy to report. [GP]
Watch a narrated slide show of our visit to Wallkill on the GreenPrisons.org Youtube page.
Sunday, June 2, 2013
NAAWS Conference Shares Focus on Sustainability
We just returned from another very successful conference of the North American Association of Wardens and Superintendents (NAAWS). This year's conference was another great success hosted by the Ohio Warden and Superintendents Association (OWASA). With over 200 institution CEO's and 30+ exhibitors participating, it was the perfect venue for learning about new products and networking.
GreenPrisons friends Solar America Solutions, Strayer Lighting and Energy Systems Group were just a few of the exhibitors focused on sustainability. Their presence at this very important conference really continued the sustainability momentum and gave wardens and superintendents the chance to learn the latest in each of these new areas of technology.
This would be a great time to suggest a topic for the next GreenPrisons webinar or to purchase an ad with a link to your latest promotion. Contact tommy @GreenPrisons.org for more information.
GreenPrisons friends Solar America Solutions, Strayer Lighting and Energy Systems Group were just a few of the exhibitors focused on sustainability. Their presence at this very important conference really continued the sustainability momentum and gave wardens and superintendents the chance to learn the latest in each of these new areas of technology.
This would be a great time to suggest a topic for the next GreenPrisons webinar or to purchase an ad with a link to your latest promotion. Contact tommy @GreenPrisons.org for more information.
Tuesday, April 9, 2013
The following article is provided by guest blogger Bill Sturgeon. A correctional practitioner with decades of experience, Bill's primary focus has traditionally been security. In today's blog he shares his observations of our recent Sustainability Symposium
This past Fall I attended the 2nd Annual “Sustainability
and Greening Symposium” in Indianapolis, Indiana. I found the Symposium to be a marvelous
experience. For the first time in many years, I felt as though I was with a
group of professionals who were truly working to identify more efficient ways
to operate correctional facilities in the twenty-first century.
Without question, correctional facilities are an enormous drain on any community’s resources, from electricity to sewerage processing. The time has come for corrections to develop more efficient methods to operate its institutions.
Yet, there were others present who looked at more efficient
ways of serving meals on recyclable trays, there-by cutting back on the dishwashers’
use of clean water, soap and wastewater treatment. Also featured were cleaning
materials that did not have any harsh chemicals in them, yet were as effective
as their predecessors. As an “old” security guy, I found these new cleaning
compounds very interesting, because they have eliminated dangerous chemicals
from the secure perimeter.
As I stated above, “Sustainability and Greening” is a “way
of life”. Getting the staff, at every level, involved in the process will help
the process move along more expeditiously and the staff can come up with great
suggestions.
Sustainability and Greening Correctional Facilities
By
Wm. Bill Sturgeon
Without question, correctional facilities are an enormous drain on any community’s resources, from electricity to sewerage processing. The time has come for corrections to develop more efficient methods to operate its institutions.
At this Symposium there were the obvious areas that affect every
correctional institution:
1.
Lighting
2.
Water
3.
Sewerage
4.
Trash
5.
Fuel for heating
6. Reassignment of staff
Of course, for all of these new “Sustainability and Greening”
initiatives, there will have to be cost analyses done to ascertain what type
savings there will be. As I was thinking about writing this article, I wanted
to stress the idea that “Sustainability and Greening” are not restricted to just
“hard” evidence that is easily gathered. Rather, “Sustainability and Greening”
is a “way of life”.
I believe that correctional institutions who are pursuing
the “Sustainability and Greening” initiative should look at them holistically
rather than specifically. While it is true that by installing new perimeter lights
an institution could save a significant amount of money, an institution could also
save money by recycling materials, using water saving shower heads, and using recyclable
trays for two of three meals per day.
As a security guy, I have come to the realization that not
all “Sustainability and Greening” initiatives are appropriate for every
security level. This said, security should not be used as an excuse for not
moving forward with “Sustainability and Greening” efforts. The criminal justice
community has to find more efficient ways of conducting day-to-day operations.
Friday, March 22, 2013
GreenPrisons is at the Sustainable Prisons Project
GreenPrisons has had the opportunity to participate in the second national gathering of the Sustainable Prison Project (SPP). SPP, funded in part by the National Science Foundation (NSF, is part of a national movement to bring science into correctional facilities. The project focuses on all areas of sustainability but particularly those that promote the recovery of endangered species. From butterflies to spotted frogs this project has provided offender jobs, education and benefitted the larger communities. Check out their website for more information.
Saturday, July 21, 2012
Greetings From ACA
ACA kicks off its 142nd Congress of Corrections today in Mile High Denver CO. There is lots of buzz about sustainability and about GreenPrisons. Our first official activity is this afternoon at 1:30 when the Clean and Green committee convenes. If you're at the conference be sure to come by room 301 of the Convention Center.
We've already met a number of folks new to corrections eager to learn more about what correctional agencies are doing to promote sustainability. They will have ample opportunity during more than six workshops examining the topic from any number of angles.
Yesterday Superintendent Keith Butts of the Pendleton Correctional Facility in IN and I visited the headquarters of Community Power Corporation to learn more about their garbage gasification project. Currently they have a version designed to meet the Department of Defense's commissary needs to dispose of food and cellulose waste in areas with high tipping fees and/or high utilities cost. They will be doing a feasibility study to determine its applicability in corrections. You will learn the results of that study here on GreenPrisons.org and at our Symposium in October in Indianapolis.
More tomorrow from the exhibit floor at ACA
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