ACA Hosts SIX Sustainability Workshops at this Year's Summer Congress

ACA is going"Green" at this summer's Congress with SIX workshops on sustainability topics. From a facilitated workshop on sustainable projects around the country to saving $1000 per inmate these are sessions you won't want to miss. Don't forget to come to the conference in time to attend the "Clean and Green" committee at the Convention Center on Saturday at 1:30. Check the program for the room number. We will be making new proposals for the committee to submit to President Epps when his term begins in January. And remember vendors are always welcome to join us. Once again GreenPrisons will pair up with the North American Association of Warden's and Superintendents (NAAWS) for a place to meet and greet. Come by the NAAWS suite in the Hyatt Regency starting Saturday night to meet the largest group of senior decision makers in corrections. If you are not familiar with NAAWS you can learn more at www.corrections.com/NAAWS. If you're not a member consider joining. More next time on our growing program for the 2nd National Symposium on Sustainability in Corrections. Watch www.GreenPrisons.org for more information on the Symposium.

April Webinar Delivers Strategies to Generate More Revenue from Recycling and Advantages of Green Cleaning

Join GreenPrisons on Wednesday, April 11 at 11 AM EST for our next webinar in our Sustainability in Corrections series. This month we focus on materials management and specifically on ways to maximize the revenue generated from recycling efforts and the fundamentals of cleaning with green chemicals and why they are so well suited for the corrections environment.

Clayton Campbell of PABS Management will discuss strategies for increasing your revenue from recycling and reducing cartage fees by managing the institution waste stream more effectively.

Burt Klein of PortionPac chemicals will explain the fundamental advantages of cleaning with green chemicals. PortionPac has a history of working with corrections since 1985 and has been a major supporter of the accreditation process as well as providing training programs for offenders who use PortionPac products.

To register go to www.GreenPrisons.org and click on the webinar article.

Doing More with Less

On a mission to find out as much about energy savings in corrections as possible, we attended an ACA workshop on "Best Practices: A Review of Facilities" presented by Robert Schwartz, VP of the Justice Group at HOK, Inc., and Eric Hackman, Project Manager with Tower Pinkster. They reviewed three facility projects in three separate counties in Michigan and gave us project highlights including the energy savings established due to the new construction. Here are a few notes:

Midland County Jail:

• Created with a compact floor plan which encourages energy efficiency
• Designed with extensive day lighting to reduce the need for artificial lighting, saving electricity
• Installed a ground source heat pump
• Ozone laundry system, allowing cleaner laundry washed with cold water, reducing the demand for warm water
• Light harvesting - system automatically turns the electric lights off when a pre-determined amount of light is detected in a given space
• Design avoids inmate cells on the exterior wall, thus reducing the amount of energy needed to heat the cells in the winter
• Polished concrete floors can be cleaned with a wet mop, reducing the need for chemicals

Midland county energy costs:

• $185 annual energy costs
• $1.75 per square foot/year
• $740 per bed/year
  
• $57K annually in energy savings
• 25% savings of a "typical" building

Washtenaw County Justice Complex:

The new Justice Complex added 30% more space to the building's footprint but created a 20% energy savings from $2.43 to $1.93 per square foot by using the following practices:

• Installed new "air handling" units
• High efficiency boilers
• Ozone laundry system
  

Greetings from the 141st Congress of ACA

We just rolled into the ACA Congress this afternoon and already have had the opportunity to talk with former KY DOC Commissioner of Corrections John Rees and representatives of Portion Pac chemicals.

One of our goals this week at the conference is to expand the involvement of Jails in the accreditation process by providing training and technical assistance to initiate the process. Much of this effort will focus around the control of toxics, caustics and flammables.

Tomorrow we are scheduled to meet with a number of current and former commissioners/directors to learn how Greenprisons can support/contribute to sustainable efforts in corrections.

Watch for more updates from Portion Pac, Solaris, ESG, Johnson Controls and ICON in the coming days.

Let us know what you would like to know about what is going on at ACA this summer