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American penitentiaries emphasize the need for sustainability
By treehugger.com- Tom Szaky
Published: 04/16/2014

There are as many as 2.4 million individuals locked up in American state prisons, federal penitentiaries, local jails, and juvenile institutions. That’s equivalent to the entire population of Houston, plus another 300,000. Every hour of every day, these overcrowded prisons and jails are stretching resources, straining generators, and providing housing for a city-sized population of incarcerated individuals, turning the prison system into a veritable sustainability black hole. Considering there are thousands of state prisons and over a hundred federal penitentiaries, the need for comprehensive sustainability strategies couldn’t be clearer.

That’s exactly why the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) was organized in 2004. The partnership between the Washington State Department of Corrections and The Evergreen State College helps prisons develop and implement sustainability initiatives and education programs for staff and inmates. Resource conservation, gardening, composting and recycling are just a few of the strategies the SPP helps prisons integrate into their daily operations. According to the SPP, these techniques have already helped save $4.3 million in Washington. While initially operating only in Washington, the Sustainability in Prisons Network is fast becoming a national venture.

Enter the Oregon Department of Corrections. A recent addition to the SPP Network, the Oregon DOC has for several years now been a leading example of sustainability across all 14 of its penitentiaries. Aside from planting gardens and conserving water and energy, the crown jewel of its strategies is an extensive recycling system that recently won it the title “Recycler of the Year” at the Mid-Valley Green Awards in Oregon. At a central recycling facility, everything from lead, shrink wrap, fluorescent light bulbs and even bullet-proof vests are collected and recycled.

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