Prisons taking steps to reduce carbon footprint

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Watching the carbon footprint the population creates has become a responsibility for our governing bodies. But what about our prison facilities?

According to its annual report, the Illinois Department of Corrections in total houses more than 45,000 inmates. This doesn’t include county jails or federal prisons in the state. But the number approximates a well-populated community. What, then, are prisons doing to reduce their carbon footprint?

“One of our goals is to present a major rollout of the recycling and greening that we do through corrections,” Sharyn Elman, an Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said.

Throughout the state, the Department of Corrections has executed different plans to become more sustainable, along with individual efforts from the facilities as well. This includes work with water recycling, waste diversion, purchasing more environmentally responsible materials for every day use as well as efforts to cultivate more plant life through gardening programs.

“We aren’t working in a vacuum,” Elman said, “They send us ideas for greening and they work with us and we will pass down ideas on to other facilities as well”

Several prisons have started their own unique programs. Shawnee Correctional Center in downstate Vienna has taken action to remove Styrofoam from their dining halls and replaced it with reusable permaware and plastics.

Decatur Adult Transition Center created several green programs including its paint-recycling program. However, the Menard Correctional Center in Chester has done the most beyond all other facilities.

“In terms of the department, there are things like water conservation, using less electricity – that happens at all of the facilities,” Chris Grissom, superintendent of Illinois Correctional Industries said.

Menard is a maximum-security prison with an average of 3,500 inmates in the facility at a given time. Still, even with this giant responsibility, the management and Grissom make greening their jail a priority.

“It’s simple. What we do here is recycle, we use bio-diesel made out of vegetable oil for our vehicles, we use rain barrels,” he said. “We started recycling as a cost-saving measure, but it’s grown so that we are servicing the entire area of Randolph County. Our guys separate and process it and we sell as it a commodity. We are physically self-sufficient.”

The facility has taken its greening beyond normal expectations, including recycling glass for local breweries to reuse, making sure all shipping and packaging from the grounds is made from recycled materials.

“The main mission is vocational. We produce goods and services with offenders and we try to teach them a marketable skill,” Grissom said.

That is a similar sentiment shared in Chicago at the Cook County Jail, where the horticulture project is aimed at providing a second chance for the inmates.

Cook County Department of Corrections houses more than 9,000 inmates. In May, the facility opened a Greenhouse as a constructive use of time for inmates to learn a skill, as well as helping the Earth by putting plant life back into it.

“We had started construction in the fall,” Steve Patterson of the Cook County Department of Corrections said. “Concrete was donated from a local construction company. There was no taxpayer money involved; it was all from inmate welfare funds. And we used that to build the greenhouse.”

The program includes volunteers from the University of Illinois coming out to visit the prison and teach the inmates horticultural skills. When the program is completed, and all goes well, the inmates that pass become certified master gardeners.

In early May, work began with planting the seeds inside the greenhouse, “It was a new venture,” Patterson said, “we will give it a try and see how we do.”

The program, which initially started with 30 participants has now grown to 110 for the full calendar year.

“They are non-violent, mostly. They screwed up, but they’ve still got time to put their lives back together,” he said “They may not have many skills, but when you get out of here, they can say ‘I’m a certified master gardener.’ That will give you a shot of standing on your own feet.”

Several restaurants have jumped to partner with this program, among them the Publican, A La Carte and Charlie Trotter’s. “Last week, one of the chefs from Charlie Trotter’s grabbed a flat of basil and used it in the restaurant that night,” Patterson said.

Patterson said he realizes the need to being environmentally responsible considering the size and population of Cook County Jail. “It’s been described as a city within a city. The jail is bigger than the town I grew up in. It is a huge facility,” he said.

“One that we try doing in the area of the greenhouse, we want to make a green roof on one of our buildings out there. We’ve had some logistical issues, but we are still trying to pursue it,” Patterson said. “Our jail is 5 city blocks long and 3 wide, we would like to start greening some of those roofs.”

The prison also runs a robust recycling program after finding its former program of outsourcing recycling wasn’t bringing in the returns it had expected. “They were giving a projection of a return $48,000, it turned out to be $500. It was a question of: If we’re only getting $500, why not do it ourselves?”

So the prison started a recycling program among inmates, which in one year’s time yielded $72,000 in revenue and saved $170,000 in waste disposal. With the success of the program, the Cook County Jail now also handles recycling for the state’s attorney’s office and the Circuit Court clerk.

With each of these facilities, whether it be on a state, federal, or municipal level, those in charge agreed that it didn’t take much to start the change toward reducing their carbon footprint. “You can look all around and see opportunities to go green,” Patterson said.

“I don’t think it’s any different than any other city or town to take a step back and look. Using a fresh set of eyes. Why aren’t we doing this?”

Posted on June 15, 2010 · in USA

Tagged as: America carbon • Carbon Footprint • Carbon Reduction