The Department of Corrections received a grant from the Oregon Zoo to rehabilitate an endangered species of frog that lives in the Pacific Northwest. The staff and offenders at Cedar Creek Corrections Center have had a higher success rate at rearing the Oregon spotted frog than zoos and nature centers in Washington, Oregon and British Columbia. News release from the WA DOC.

“It’s a remarkable achievement for a prison to receive a scientific grant,” Acting Prisons Director Dan Pacholke said. “It’s good for our staff and offenders, and it’s good for the local ecology.”

Last year the Washington state Department of Fish and Wildlife released 83 Oregon spotted frogs from Cedar Creek Corrections Center in marshes on Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Pierce County. The prison expects to release about that many again this year.

The frog rehabilitation is part of the Sustainable Prisons Project, a partnership between the Department of Corrections and The Evergreen State College. The project is designed to reduce operational costs by developing sustainable practices, reduce prisons’ impact on the environment and connect offenders to nature.

Part of the $5,000 grant will be used to raise crickets for the frogs to eat. The Department of Fish and Wildlife currently has to import crickets from Southeastern states due to a local shortage.

“Raising the crickets at the prison is another way we’re reducing our carbon footprint and making the project more sustainable,” said Kelli Bush, the project manager of the Sustainable Prisons Project.

Prison administrators credit including offenders in scientific projects like frog rehabilitation as one of the reasons prison violence has dramatically decreased the past two years.

“When an offender has researchers and biologists coming up and asking them for their input on scientific projects, it gives the offender a sense of pride and accomplishment,” Pacholke said. “And when offenders have a sense of purpose they are less likely to get involved in criminal activity, whether it’s in a prison or in the community.”

Zoo officials say they are impressed with the rehabilitation effort at Cedar Creek Corrections Center.

“Everyone should be proud of the work being done by the staff and offenders at the Department of Corrections,” said Kim Smith, Oregon Zoo director. “They are truly making a difference in the recovery of this species.”

jchev Environment and Energy, Inmate Programs, Washington

An audit ordered by the Kansas Department of Corrections to identify possible exposure of inmates and employees to asbestos prompted abatement work at two correctional facilities and raised the possibility of remediation at dozens of sites in the future. “Asbestos-containing materials were found in various buildings at DOC facilities,” said Bill Miskell, spokesman for corrections department. News reported in the Topeka Capital-Journal.

He said the $170,000 assessment of pipe insulation, ceiling material, floor tile and other products likely to contain asbestos was a direct response to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s report documenting KDOC’s past mishandling of asbestos removal.

KDOC officials responded to the systemwide audit by reallocating $75,000 for abatement of pipe wrapping or ceiling tile at the Lansing and Winfield prisons, but say government regulations don’t require immediate elimination of asbestos found elsewhere in the prisons.

The review will help KDOC properly manage asbestos contamination during future demolitions or renovations, Miskell said.

The limited clean-up didn’t satisfy a Kansas labor union official representing state corrections officers or the Alma lawyer who prompted a federal investigation in February of suspected improper handling of asbestos at Topeka Correctional Facility.

“Why wait until something bad happens and someone is exposed?” said Jane Carter, executive director of the 10,000-member Kansas Organization of State Employees.

Limited action now
The analysis by private contractors touched prisons in El Dorado, Ellsworth, Hutchinson, Larned, Norton, Stockton, Wichita, Lansing, Winfield and Topeka.

“We want to ensure that any KDOC renovation or repair project is done in a safe and appropriate manner and that the one project found by the EPA to be inappropriately done remains an isolated event,” Miskell said.

The examination followed EPA’s report in March detailing how state prison officials violated federal law during abatement of asbestos-tainted flooring in a TCF dormitory. The prison in East Topeka houses 500 female felony offenders and employs more than 200 people.

Controversy at TCF centered on a 2005 project in which untrained and ill-equipped prisoners and staff members were deployed with heavy equipment to pulverize the flooring for disposal. Occupational exposure to microscopic particles of asbestos poses potentially lethal health risks.

EPA investigators determined KDOC violated the Clean Air Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act by failing to test the TCF building for asbestos prior to demolition and neglecting to provide respiratory protection, training, supervision, assessment and monitoring of people assigned to the project.

Subsequent violations at Kansas prisons could trigger fines and penalties against KDOC, said Chris Whitley, spokesman for EPA in Kansas City, Kan.

Richard Koerner, the TCF warden during the asbestos miscue five years ago, resigned in January, hours before release of a consultant’s report outlining proposed management reforms at the prison following exposure of a sex scandal involving prison staff members and inmates. Allegations of sexual impropriety and of racial and gender discrimination were raised in 2009 by The Topeka Capital-Journal.

The new tests
Laboratory testing of samples from the new asbestos audit obtained by The Capital-Journal indicate the material was identified in dozens of locations in state prison buildings.

KDOC issued a $68,000 contract for abatement of asbestos pipe insulation above a restroom, classroom and library at Lansing Correctional Facility. At Winfield Correctional Facility, the department ordered removal of asbestos-contaminated ceiling in three hallways of a dormitory, pipe insulation in a separate dormitory and pipe insulation used for staff development. The work at Winfield cost $7,000.

At TCF, the assessment indicated thousands of square feet of floor tile in the prison contained asbestos. It was in the staff lounge, control center, dental clinic, chaplain’s office, restrooms, library, teachers’ lounge, hallways and beauty shop.

In at least two dormitories at TCF, inspectors detected asbestos-infused glue residue on the floor of inmate rooms. The glue had been applied to hold down asbestos tile that was pulled out by abatement firms hired by KDOC in 2007 and 2008.

Miskell said “mastic” on the floor wasn’t an immediate health hazard.

“The department will have it removed by an asbestos abatement contractor at a time when further renovation is done on the building,” he said.

While contamination wasn’t detected at Ellsworth or El Dorado prisons, auditors found asbestos in Hutchinson Correctional Facility’s cell and office flooring, pipe chases, gym walls and textured ceiling. The material was noted in ceiling and floor tile, as well as sheet vinyl and insulation at Norton Correctional Facility. At Stockton Correctional Facility, inspectors found asbestos in exposed floor glue and vinyl sheeting.

Asbestos material was identified in the Wichita Work Release Facility’s boiler and mechanical rooms, as well as about 300 pipe joints. Larned Correctional Facility had asbestos flooring, pipe joints and insulation.

Not enough
Carter, leader of the union serving corrections employees, said the state should develop a comprehensive plan for ridding correctional institutions of potentially harmful asbestos.

“Why not remove it now?” Carter said. “They’re putting inmates and staff at risk, but also the public.”

Miskell said KDOC didn’t have to immediately address asbestos in forms or locations not currently posing a health threat to people.

In 2009, lawyer Keen Umbehr sought an investigation by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment of asbestos contamination at the Topeka prison for women. KDHE turned the case over to the EPA, which performed inspections at TCF, leading to the finding against the state.

Umbehr said repairs ordered at Lansing and Winfield suggested the state had determined both facilities were out of compliance with state and federal law.

He said a public examination of past asbestos projects at state prisons should be conducted to determine whether improper activity was isolated or widespread. The state’s next governor should support a broad inquiry, he said.

“It doesn’t matter whether it is prisoners, correction officers or other workers performing the job of removing asbestos,” he said. “There is no ’safe’ level of asbestos exposure.”

jchev Environment and Energy, Kansas

The Federal Bureau of Prisons is continuing its ongoing sustainability drive with the completion of energy efficiency, renewable power and water conservation projects that could save more than $2 million annually at two federal prison sites on the Eastern Seaboard. Story from Correctional News.

The multi-component projects at the Federal Correctional Complex in Petersburg, Va., and the Federal Correctional Institution in Fairton, N.J., combine energy and water conservation measures and incorporate renewable technologies to reduce utility usage, operating costs and carbon emissions that are projected to yield the FBOP more than $2.2 million in annual cost savings, officials say.

Baltimore-based Constellation Energy partnered with federal authorities to complete the projects at both sites under energy-savings performance contracts, which allowed the FBOP to avoid any up-front capital investment in infrastructure upgrades carried out at both facilities.

Under the performance contracts, Constellation finances the work and the FBOP uses the cost savings generated by the guaranteed energy and water usage reductions stipulated in the performance contracts to cover project repayments, which are stretched over the length of the multi-year contract term.

“Through the federal energy savings performance contract model, these improvements pay for themselves over the term of the contract,” says Michael Smith, senior vice president of green initiatives for Constellation NewEnergy, a division of Fortune 500 company Constellation Energy.

Federal tax credits covered approximately 30 percent of project costs, and the company is also eligible to receive the state tax credits.

Fairton
At FCI Fairton, the Constellation team installed a 400-kilowatt solar energy system on three-acre tract of land under the multi-year contract. The firm also carried out improvements to the existing boiler and chiller plants and upgraded electrical and lighting systems throughout the facility to increase efficiency.

Fairton inmates worked alongside the contractors to install the photovoltaic panels, which were manufactured by inmates at a Federal Prison Industries facility in Otisville, N.Y. Inmates also received hands-on practical training in the maintenance of the solar system, officials say.

The more than 1,370-bed medium-security main facility, which incorporates a 120-bed minimum-security satellite prison camp, is located 50 miles southeast of Philadelphia and 40 miles west of Atlantic City, N.J.

The firm also integrated smart energy controls, and incorporated a number of efficiency measures to support water conservation, including the replace of more than 700 toilets, as part of the comprehensive $10 million upgrade project.

The sustainability strategies employed at FCI Fairton could reduce the facility’s energy usage by more than 25 percent and water consumption by more than 40 percent to yield more than $800,000 in estimated annual cost savings, according to officials at Constellation. The new solar installation generates 400 kilowatts of renewable, clean electricity, which is equivalent to removing about 500 tons of carbon dioxide annually.

Petersburg
At FCC Petersburg, which consists of a low-security facility with more than 1,090 beds and a medium-security facility more than 1,970 beds, the project team installed a geothermal heat pump system, a rooftop solar system and a biomass heating system — a first for a FBOP facility, according to reports — to meet the facility’s energy demands.

Water efficiency strategies and conservation measures implemented at the Petersburg complex, which also incorporates an adjacent 340-bed minimum-security satellite prison camp, could reduce water consumption by an estimated 70 million gallons per year.

The renewable energy measures at the prison complex, located 25 miles southeast of Richmond, Va., could generate almost $1.4 million in annual cost savings while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by an estimated 3,400 tons over the life of the systems, according to the company.

Officials also deployed a fleet of zero-emissions electric vehicles to support campus operations in an effort to further reduce the facility’s carbon footprint, and plan to meet 100 percent of the facility’s energy needs through on-site renewable sources with the installation of an additional 850-kilowatt solar system in the main parking lot.

“All of our federal customers are seeking new ways to reduce energy usage and costs and green their operations without incurring significant capital improvement costs,” says Constellation’s Mike Smith.

In addition to federal correctional facilities, Constellation Energy, which reported revenues of $15.6 billion in 2009, has worked on energy efficiency, renewable power generation and water conservation projects at the state and local level, such as the comprehensive infrastructure upgrade project for Hampden County Sheriff’s Department in Ludlow, Mass.

jchev Environment and Energy, Federal Payments

Coyote Ridge Corrections Center is the first prison campus to meet national standards for its green and energy-saving practices, officials say. The Connell prison received a LEED Gold certification Tuesday for the green-building techniques and energy-saving measures incorporated in the 2008 prison expansion. Story in the News Tribune.

LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the U.S. Green Building Council’s green-building standard. Gold is the second highest rating a project can receive. Coyote Ridge is the first prison in the world where the entire campus has met the LEED standard, said David Jansen, Department of Corrections capital programs administrator.

Sustainability is a part of every day at Coyote Ridge, said Jeff Uttecht, Coyote Ridge superintendent. Where some facilities have grass, Coyote Ridge has gravel.

The prison also uses low-flow fixtures such as 1.5-gallons-per-minute showers and 1.1-gallons-per-flush toilets, according to information from DOC. Using less water decreases Coyote Ridge’s demand on Connell’s aquifer, said Glenn Jones, Coyote Ridge facility manager.

The prison’s laundry system also reuses the heat and some water, he said. And Coyote Ridge’s recycling program cuts the facility’s amount of garbage in half, Jones said.

Jansen said the department is impressed with the facility’s performance so far. DOC has the goal of being a national leader in sustainability. The state Legislature mandated that Coyote Ridge meet LEED Silver standards, Jansen said.

“We did better than we hoped,” he said.

The recent prison expansion added a 2,048-bed medium security section to the 600-bed minimum security facility.

The prison had 46 percent of its building materials come from recycled sources, reduced water use by 32 percent and used 45 percent locally-made building materials, according to information provided by DOC. The facility also has solar panels.

And of the 27,500 tons of material removed from the site during construction, 160 tons ended up in a landfill. Jansen said the rest was recycled. Sustainable buildings save money, which is important now when resources are becoming scarce, said Eldon Vail, DOC secretary.

Building the prison to LEED standards did not add to the overall cost, Jansen said. Receiving the LEED rating does require a fee to the building council, but that was offset by energy rebates, he said.

The state also will benefit long-term from reduced utility costs because of decreased use of water, sewer, natural gas and electricity, Jansen said.

Coyote Ridge will use about 20 million fewer gallons of water and produce about 70 million fewer gallons of sewage per year than a similar-size prison, Jansen said.

The exact energy savings at Coyote Ridge is uncertain because all the units aren’t open yet, Jansen said. The department estimates it will have a 32 percent reduction in energy use when compared to a similar-size facility. Coyote Ridge had 1,937 inmates on Tuesday, Uttecht said.

The facility has been gaining new prisoners since the state decided to transfer inmates to the newly expanded prison while closing portions of older prisons to save money. The state also brought back prisoners to Washington who were being held in other states.

Four units have opened since the beginning of the year to accommodate new prisoners, Uttecht has said. Two more units are expected to be open before the end of the year, which would put the prison close to its maximum of 2,468 prisoners. One of the remaining two empty units will open Aug. 16.

But on Tuesday, prison officials were focused on celebrating their new award. A light bulb illuminates the LEED Gold certification glass plaque.

jchev Environment and Energy, WA Franklin County

Officials at Deuel Vocational Institution admit the outrage factor. They acknowledge that they have built a $32 million plant to provide prisoners with the purest drinking water for miles around. News from The Record.

What’s more, less than a year after they finished construction and powered up the state-of-the-art plant, it malfunctioned. For now, the 85-foot-tall glimmering tower built by Carollo Engineers does little more than look like a NASA rocket awaiting liftoff.

“We know what the problem is and how to address it,” said Matt Cordua, Deuel’s water plant supervisor. He added that he is working with engineers to get the parts to return the plant to operation.

Cordua explained that the highly efficient plant turns Deuel’s brackish well water pristine through a multistage process. Pointing to hunks of machinery, Cordua uses words such as “vapor compressor,” “reverse osmosis” and “brine concentrator” to describe how it operates.

When it’s running, its 4,000-volt, 1,500-horsepower motor pumps out more than 600,000 gallons a day. Asked to explain that to a lay person, Cordua pauses.

“This is the biggest electric generator I’ve ever seen,” he said, comparing it to those at the bottom of Nevada’s massive Hoover Dam.

It is the only licensed purification plant of its type in California that produces drinking water. But along with new technology comes glitches, said Cordua, who called the plant’s idle status “growing pains.”

Don’t be confused, said Deuel spokesman Lt. Gilbert Valenzuela. The plant is anything but a luxury item for the prison’s 3,890 inmates, he said, despite what they might believe. For years, he heard inmates complain about the well water, which looks bad and tastes bad.

During the 10-month period when the plant was running, one inmate became so elated that he wrote prison officials a note, Valenzuela said.

“Thanks for listening to us,” Valenzuela recounted. “It’s about time.”

But the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation didn’t build it to appease inmates. The purification plant – and a companion sewer-treatment facility at Deuel – came in response to hefty fines from state water oversight agencies that fined the state prison for its poor water quality dumped into a nearby river, said Deuel’s plant manager, Jeffrey Palumbo.

Deuel pipes its treated wastewater into tributaries of the San Joaquin Delta. To end up with wastewater that meets state standards, you have to begin with clean water, prison officials said.

Since 2004, Deuel has had to pay $525,000 in fines to the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board because the treated water contained high levels of heavy metals, Palumbo said. Deuel, a state prison, has been its paying fines to another state agency. Despite the glitches, the plant won Carollo Engineers’ statewide recognition for the project’s design, Palumbo said.

He estimated that the plant should be running again within the next three months.

“What it comes down to is state requirement,” Palumbo said. “It has nothing to do with the inmates.”

jchev California, Environment and Energy

An inmate at the Quezon City Jail pedals furiously on a stationary bike, beads of sweat trickling like fat tears down his back. But he’s not only out to lose those extra pounds. He wants to help save on electricity consumption in the congested jail that has been his home for the past two years. Story from the Philippine Daily Inquirer.

Each session on the stationary bike is equal to electric power saved on a battery attached to the bike, which the jail can use to power electric fans and light bulbs. It can even heat water for morning coffee.

The Bureau of Jail Management and Penology (BJMP) has yet to give the contraption a catchy name, but it has caught the interest of both inmates and jail guards after they saw how two electric bulbs lit up after just two minutes of intense pedaling.

Today, the BJMP’s “Kuryente Mula sa Pawis” project aims to make use of the inmates’ “potential energy” by encouraging them to sweat it out on the bikes—and generate electricity on the side.

Dual purpose
“Biking serves a dual purpose for us here. The inmates can exercise and shed a few pounds. At the same time, the exercise generates electricity that they themselves use,” said BJMP-National Capital Region director Chief Supt. Serafin Baretto Jr.

The jail official said that with the device, they hope to bring down the electricity bill of the cramped Quezon City Jail, which houses more than 3,000 inmates.

For the project, each of the jail’s eight dormitories will get its own bike and battery, which costs P10,000 a unit.

“Our electricity bill amounting to P607,000 was reduced to P315,000 after we cut down on the use of appliances. With this gadget, we hope to be able to power up simple appliances, especially water heaters that we use for the inmates’ morning coffee,” said jail warden Supt. Nestor Velasquez.

The contraption—a stationary bike supported by scrap metal collected from a junk shop, a car battery and a light bulb to demonstrate the effect—is the brainchild of a jail guard who once worked as a car mechanic.

Untapped energy
JO3 Roderick Siena, the man behind the invention, said the device works like a big dynamo that makes use of the inmates’ potential energy that is largely unused as they spend time behind bars.

“I thought that since the inmates go to the gym to work out, why not use this energy in a more productive way,” he told Inquirer. Each battery can be charged in two to three hours of pedaling on the stationary bike.

“This is one solution we came up with regarding the problem of lack of electricity, a big electricity bill and global warming caused by harmful emissions. The only emission here comes from the sweat of inmates,” he laughed.

“Two to five minutes of pedaling by an inmate is enough, then someone can replace him to charge the battery. The device stops automatically once the battery is fully charged.”

It would take around 100 inmates to fully charge the battery in three hours, Siena said. Each battery can hold up to eight hours worth of battery life and can power up to 10 light bulbs. It can also power up an electric fan and four light bulbs at the same time.

Inspiration
The inspiration for the contraption came about after Siena took an advance course at the Jail National Training Institute, where he saw how a wind turbine could generate electricity.

“I thought, why not try it using a bike?” Siena said.

He added that the idea was not new, but it had not been utilized in practical applications.

In a demonstration at the Quezon City jail, BJMP officials showed how the bike can not only charge the battery but also directly provide electricity to a water heater or two light bulbs.

Bills reduced
Velasquez said they still have to find out how much electricity they can save.

“We still have to see its effects on our electric bill. But hopefully, we can reduce the bill and help in the government’s austerity efforts,” the jail warden added.

jchev Environment and Energy, Philippines

A mandate from the 2009 Oregon Legislature to use 1.5 percent of all new construction project budgets for solar energy projects means the agency responsible for housing Oregon’s prisoners will be doing more solar projects in the future. Reported in the Daily Journal of Commerce.

But according to Vern Rowan, facilities services business manager for the Department of Corrections, rolling out new projects has been slow going due to a lack of extra staff to escort contractors while they work on prison property. Because of the secure nature of the correction department’s properties, all contractors need to be monitored by prison staff.

“Our workforce has to escort contractors around and we don’t have people who can escort every day,” Rowan said. “We have other construction going on outside of our energy projects. If we did too many at once, it could impact the safety and order of our facilities.”

Since the corrections department installed a 16.5-kilowatt pilot solar array at its Two Rivers Correctional Institution in Umatilla earlier this year, Rowan says he has received several inquires from solar service providers wanting to install more projects. If the corrections department provides the land, it can take advantage of energy savings for the life of the solar array, which generally last 20 to 30 years.

“It sounds like a good deal,” Rowan said. “But we didn’t know if it would work for us. That’s a big part of why we did the Two Rivers solar array. We’re trying to get intelligent about how to make them work within a correctional environment.”

The Two Rivers solar system is located outside the prison’s gates. Once projects move indoors, things can get really complex. A Request for Proposals currently out for a company to design a solar hot water heating system at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton will require contractors to work on the prison’s strict schedule. Prisons have to perform periodic inmate head counts throughout the day which brings any construction projects to a standstill.

“If a contractor shows up at 8 a.m., they have to wait for an hour and a half while we have inmates in their cells for a head count,” Rowan said. “There’s dead time there where contractors can’t move, which makes projects take longer to complete.”

For solar installers, working with a state assigned escort doesn’t bother them much. Nor do the thorough background checks required to work on prison property. Project manager Jeff Zimmerman of Christenson Electric had to go through the correction department’s security check before building the solar array at Two Rivers Correctional Institution.

“We had a state assigned escort and kept close tabs on all of our tools and materials,” Zimmerman said. “The prison system made it very easy for us to work. When more solar projects go out for bid from the Department of Corrections, we’ll absolutely be taking a closer look.”

Currently, the corrections department has reduced its energy consumption by 16 percent over year 2000 levels, but it wants to get to 20 percent by 2015. So far, Rowan says the department has had no problems with its first solar array and the corrections department plans to solicit a contractor to design a new solar project at its Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution in Pendleton soon.

“Solar should be built everywhere,” Zimmerman said. “If the state is setting an example to others, I think that’s a good thing.”

jchev Environment and Energy, Oregon

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? News, video and further information from Medhill Reports.

“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?”

jchev Environment and Energy, Illinois

The Oregon Department of Energy has announced that the Oregon Department of Corrections (ODOC) will receive $450,000 in federal funds for a renewable energy project to be installed at the Eastern Oregon Correctional Institution. The project is funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act awarded through the State Energy Program (SEP). These funds are designated for energy efficiency and renewable energy projects in public buildings. The U. S. Department of Energy administers the funds, approves the projects and reviews the state’s progress. News from The Portlander.

“We are pleased to make this award to the Oregon Department of Corrections,” said Shelli Honeywell, manager of the Oregon Department of Energy ARRA team. “Not only will this project generate energy, but the funds will be used to put contractors to work.”

The Oregon Department of Energy received more than 1,100 letters of interest, representing a request of over $2 billion in Recovery Act funding.

jchev Environment and Energy, Oregon, RFPs

An $8 million wood-burning power plant constructed to save energy costs at the Northern Nevada Correctional Center in Carson City probably will be closed in the next several months. Reported by the Las Vegas Sun.

“It loses money every day,” says Howard Skolnik, director of the state Department of Corrections. “We’ll see if we can get a buyer or another agency or just shut it down.”

The director said the plant was constructed smaller than it should have been, and prison inmates were supposed to operate it. But that didn’t work out. Having state workers run the plant was much more expensive than having inmates on the job, he said.

It was also difficult to keep the wood being supplied from the Lake Tahoe Basin. Jeffrey Mohlenkamp, deputy director of the state Department of Corrections, said the concept was good, but the plant wasn’t designed properly.

Mohlenkamp told the Legislative Subcommittee for Federal Stimulus Oversight on Tuesday that the plant would probably be closed in the next three to four months if it can’t be leased out.

Assemblywoman Debbie Smith, D-Sparks, said the operation has “not been successful from day one.”

The biomass plant burns limbs, underbrush and plants from the Lake Tahoe Basin for generation of heat and power. It was initially estimated that it would save the prison system about $40,000 a month.

The plant opened in September 2007 and had trouble during its first six months. The efficiency picked up with better supplies of wood and improved operation.

Skolnik said, however, that a study showed the plant could not be operated profitably, even with energy grants.

Mohlenkamp said a study would be conducted “on the lessons learned.”

The state provided $6.5 million for construction and the U.S. Forest Service and federal stimulus money brought the project to $8.8 million.

Mohlenkamp told the legislative subcommittee the project helped clean out the underbrush in the Tahoe Basin, reducing the danger of forest fires.

jchev Economic Issues, Environment and Energy, Nevada

The Oregon Department of Corrections (DOC), Santiam Correctional Institution (SCI) in Salem, Ore., is implementing $1.85 million in facility enhancements designed to improve operations, comfort and efficiency in four buildings with approximately 96,000 square feet. Schneider Electric, the global specialist in energy management, will complete the work as a performance contract with the DOC. Schneider Electric guarantees that SCI will reduce its utility and labor costs by $335,000 annually when the project is completed in December 2009. News in Alternative Energy Resources.

SCI is a 400-bed minimum security facility that operates a community reintegration program that assigns inmates to supervised work crews in the community and provides other services for inmates prior to their release from prison. Due to code requirements to continuously staff the facility’s high pressure boilers, SCI’s operational costs to monitor the boilers exceeded all of the institution’s utility costs. The facility was also energy inefficient and lacked an effective building automation system.

“SCI initially received funding to replace the steam boilers to reduce operational costs. Schneider Electric found a way to keep the boilers and significantly reduce operational costs without sacrificing functionality of the system,” said Jim Poore, senior project manager, ODOC Facilities Services. “Schneider Electric’s solution was significantly less expensive than a wholesale replacement of the boiler system as originally planned. This allows the remaining dollars to fund numerous other improvements needed to reduce energy use, improve comfort and provide needed upgrades to the building to reduce the deferred maintenance that will have to be addressed in the future.”

Performance contracting offers many long-term benefits for correctional facilities, such as improved facility efficiency, occupant comfort, financial management and environmental protection. Typically, new, more efficient equipment and upgraded facility automation systems maximize energy efficiency and generate utility savings. Schneider Electric guarantees the amount of savings performance contracting projects will achieve and agrees to pay the difference if that amount is not realized.

To meet the challenge of reducing costs and improving efficiency, Schneider Electric applied a variety of energy conservation measures. First, engineers re-evaluated the plan to remove the two functional steam boilers that were in excellent condition. They determined that by reducing the pressure on the boilers from 45 to 14 PSI, the facility could still get the heating it needed and eliminate the need for continual staffing. Next, Schneider Electric examined the building management system, which had been abandoned because of age and missing hardware, leaving the staff to manually adjust valves and turn fans on and off. With no way to utilize the mechanical system to bring in cool air at night and noninsulated metal frame windows, the building quickly warmed up in the summer, with temperatures often rising to 110 degrees. Through this project, Schneider Electric will significantly reduce the peak temperatures in the summer by upgrading to a web-based direct digital control (DDC) control system, reducing lighting loads with lighting controls and retrofitting fixtures, installing modern thermal windows, and adding insulation and circulation in the attic. The staff will have full control and visibility of current conditions through the new control system. Schneider Electric partner Control Contractors, Inc. of Portland, Ore., will install a TAC I/A Series control system in the facility.

“Properly coordinating scheduling and necessary security are the biggest challenges to working in correctional facilities,” said Shon Anderson, vice president of Energy Solutions sales, Schneider Electric. “The nature of the facility and the fact that it must be operational and occupied 24/7 require that we must be careful to ensure that the work does not compromise security and has minimal disruption to the occupants.”

When the project is completed, not only will the SCI facility be more comfortable, but it will also be more efficient. Schneider Electric estimates that as a result of the reduction in energy use, 314 tons of carbon will not released. This is equivalent to planting 12,575 trees, taking 68 cars off the roads for one year, or making 41 houses carbon neutral.

jchev Economic Issues, Environment and Energy, Oregon

County efforts to entice the federal government to build a “green prison” near a Raft River geo-thermal plant were suspended Monday. Story in the Times-News.

Cassia County Commissioner Clay Handy said commissioners voted to cancel the county’s contract with consulting firm New West Strategies after the prison proposal failed to show up on any federal budget.

“You know we rolled the dice,” Handy said Tuesday. “And if you don’t play you never win.”

Cassia and Minidoka county officials co-signed the New West contract, and the counties were splitting the $5,000 monthly consulting bill. The contract required a 30-day notice of cancellation.

Minidoka County Clerk Duane Smith said Minidoka County commissioners voted to cancel the contract on Monday as well.

New West Strategies was founded by former U.S. Sen. Larry Craig and Michael O. Ware, and was hired by the counties in October to lobby federal officials to bring the $300 million medium-security prison to the area. The prison would have partnered with the Raft River U.S. Geothermal Inc. plant. U.S. Geothermal officials could not be reached Tuesday for comment.

“It didn’t show up in the president’s or the House Appropriations budgets,” Handy said. “We just needed a little more assurance that it was a higher priority, for us to continue on with the contract.”

Handy said county officials spoke with the state’s congressional delegation about putting the prison in the county. Having state officials up to speed on the issue will be a plus if the opportunity is presented again, he said.

County officials will keep close tabs on any opportunities that may arise in the future, Handy said.

“It’s one of those things you have to jump on quick,” Handy said.

Handy said he doesn’t feel the right people were in place this time to swing a decision in the direction of the southern Idaho site.

“It most likely would be a political decision,” Handy said.

Handy said if federal money were in place to build a “green prison” right now, Sen. Harry Reid, D-Nev., would probably be able to influence decision-makers to locate it in his state.

Some questioned whether Craig and his firm had enough influence with Congress to get the job done.

Steve Carpinelli, media manager for The Center for Public Integrity in Washington, D.C., said although Craig and his senior Senate staffers could not lobby any member of Congress or congressional staff members until January 2011, employees of Craig’s firm were free to lobby.

Handy said the federal government has funded four other prisons and picked sites but construction has not begun on any of them yet.

jchev Environment and Energy, Idaho, Jail and Prison Construction

South Asia’s largest prison — Tihar Central Jail in New Delhi — is hoping to become the first in the world to go green, by using renewable energy, recycled waste and cutting its electricity consumption. Story reported by the AFP.

The size of a small town, the vast complex in the west of the Indian capital has 10 prison blocks, covers 160 hectares (395 acres) and is massively overcrowded.

Close to 11,500 inmates, most of them men, are currently crammed into its functional, barely sanitary cells — nearly double the prison’s authorised capacity.

But the prison director-general, B.K. Gupta, wants to improve living conditions for the inmates, most of whom are on remand awaiting trial, and make it environmentally-friendly.

“We want to achieve international standards and more than that. It’s a small city here, we have a lot of open area,” said the former police officer, who launched an audit several months ago.

Tihar is ideally placed to become what he called “the world’s first green prison” in the next three years as it has the space, notably for gas plants to meet the facility’s energy needs.

Piped natural gas fuel has been used to cook food in the kitchens for the last 25 years. There are also rainwater harvesting systems to keep ground water levels topped up.

Two sewage treatment plants are being set up to recycle water for horticulture and sanitation.

The government is putting in half the money for the 9.65-million-rupee (210,000-dollar) “greening” project, which aims to recycle tonnes of household waste in four biogas facilities set up near the prison’s kitchens.

The target is to cut greenhouse gas emissions and the prison’s 45-million-rupee annual electricity bill, eventually saving the authorities millions of rupees every year.

Biomass gasifiers fed with sawdust from wood pruned from the many trees on site and offcuts from the prison workshop where 350 people make furniture for sale to the public will help provide fuel for cooking.

A solar-powered heating system is also planned for water provision. The inmates use 30,000 litres of water every day.

Gupta explained that during the winter period from November to March, inmates will no longer have electricity from 7:00 am to 9:00 am and between 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm.

“They don’t need electricity in the mornings. They do their yoga or meditation outside the cells,” he said.

In summer, when the temperature can rise to 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), fans will be kept on so prisoners “don’t suffocate, like in other jails in Asia,” he added.

Elsewhere, lightbulbs in the cells and administrative offices will also be replaced with low-energy alternatives, allowing a 50 to 70 percent reduction in electricity consumption.

In the infirmary of the women-only block of prison number six, one female doctor was happy to hear of the proposed changes — but wants the authorities to go further.

“We don’t have specialists here. And we also need a lot of new equipment, not only for energy,” she added, looking at the iron-framed beds on which a number of inmates lay asleep, wrapped up in the covers.

jchev Environment and Energy, India

A high school ecology class has helped to make a central Illinois prison a little greener. Reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Pontiac Township High School teacher Paul Ritter says 14 of his students developed a recycling program that began last week at the Pontiac Correctional Center.

Ritter says prison staff approached him to come up with a recycling plan after realizing that more than 14,000 plastic bottles each month were being thrown away at the facility.

Pontiac prison houses more than 1,600 inmates.

Ritter says his students overcame a big obstacle in developing the plan — they weren’t allowed to visit the prison or see any images of it.

The new system allows inmates and staff to recycle bottles and paper.

Officials hope the plan can be expanded to other prisons.

jchev Environment and Energy

A loss of open space and the potential for resulting development of the rural area are unavoidable impacts from a proposed new, 7,200-bed jail in Whitewater. Complete report on The Desert Sun.

A draft environmental impact report, released by Riverside County officials Wednesday, describes the effects resulting from planning, constructing and operating the proposed jail facility, which would be built with 2,000 beds in an initial phase and could be expanded to 7,200 beds.The report also identifies appropriate, feasible mitigation measures and alternatives that may be adopted to reduce or eliminate impacts.

“It’s a step that must be completed before we can move forward. So at this point, it’s the most important step so far,” said county spokesman Ray Smith.

The report deems numerous potential environmental impacts — including traffic, noise, light pollution — “less than significant.”

“From the looks of it, there’s no silver bullet that would kill this project or any project like this. That’s good news,” Riverside County Supervisor Marion Ashley said.

But some opposed to the controversial jail location dispute that classification, saying the report downplays many negative impacts on the surrounding community.

“That’s typical Riverside County planning,” said Les Starks, president of the homeowners association in nearby Snow Creek and an opponent of the proposed jail location.

“Nothing will have any effect on anything. This will be fine because this is what they want.”

The public now has until Jan.15 to comment on the report, the normal 45-day comment period being extended due to upcoming holidays.

The jail is proposed for a nearly 200-acre site at the intersection of Rushmore Avenue and Tamarack Road on the north side of Interstate 10.

The Whitewater location preferred by county officials has garnered intense criticism from several Coachella Valley leaders, who argue it would be an eyesore along the highway, create public safety concerns and ultimately deter tourists from coming to the desert. A group of civic leaders has urged the county to look at land just outside Desert Hot Springs.

Report continues on The Desert Sun.

jchev CA Riverside County, Environment and Energy, Jail and Prison Construction

The New York Times‘ Green Inc blog recently published an interesting survey of environmental projects within the corrections’ industry.  A sample:

Instead of reporting to the laundry or the kitchen or the boiler room, a Washington state prison inmate may report to the compost heap [if they are] taking part in a “green work” program at the Cedar Creek Corrections Center. Inmates grow organic produce, compost the prison’s food waste, take part in ecological research projects with a nearby university, and even produce honey from the prison’s own hives.  The Washington State Department of Corrections boasts 34 LEED-certified facilities, with 923,789 square feet of LEED-certified space added in fiscal year 2008 alone …

This fall, the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation announced 16 new green retrofitting projects, which they estimate will save $3 million in energy costs each year. The state already has solar power fields at two facilities, and plans to build six more in the coming year. A new $176 million juvenile detention facility in Alameda County — home to Berkeley and Oakland — recently became the country’s first jail to receive LEED gold certification.  Other green projects — from wind turbines to biomass boilers — have been announced by Departments of Corrections in Virginia, Nevada, and Indiana…

Ken Ricci, of Ricci Greene Associates, is currently working on a new $120 million detention center in downtown Denver, which the company plans to submit for LEED certification. “There’s a recognition that sustainable, or ‘green’ design, is actually a plus for a population that’s confined 24 hours a day,” Mr. Ricci said. “Environment cues behavior. If you treat people like animals, they behave like animals.”  Mr. Ricci … says design elements that earn LEED points, like daylighting and access to views, also improve security. “If you treat them like human beings — that is to say, there’s daylight coming in, the noise level is at a normative level — therefore your adrenaline level goes down, therefore your stress level goes down, the inmates feel safer.”

jakking CO Denver County, California, Colorado, Environment and Energy, Indiana, Jail and Prison Construction, Nevada, Virginia, Washington

The agency that runs Louisiana’s prisons is trying to cut costs by turning kitchen grease into biodiesel fuel.

State Rep. Tom McVea … warned state Department of Corrections’ officials that they will have to be creative.  “Y’all got quite a challenge on your hands. … There’s got to be some innovative thinking,” McVea said during a meeting of the legislative Subcommittee on Public Safety and Corrections.   With state general fund revenue expected to drop by $1.2 billion in the upcoming budget year that starts July 1, agencies are slashing travel, halting hiring and looking for other ways to trim costs …

The corrections department is vulnerable because 88 percent of its $543 million budget comes from the state general fund, which is suffering a downturn in revenue. The agency spends 70 percent of its budget — or $382 million — on salaries and benefits.  The agency’s undersecretary, Thomas Bickham, said his agency is trying to cut costs through privatizing services such as food.   He said the department also is buying equipment to turn kitchen grease into biodiesel fuel.  “We produce a lot of grease at our institutions. We fry a lot of food for these guys,” Bickham said.

There is more information from The Advocate.

jakking Economic Issues, Environment and Energy, Food Services, Louisiana

Two California desert prisons are corralling more than just prisoners. They’re harnessing solar energy to power everything from washing machines to lethal high-voltage perimeter fences.

The state is among those with mandates to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and the prison solar system efforts underscore its position as a national leader in renewable energy efforts … The state plans to install photovoltaic solar power systems that convert sunlight to electricity in at least six more prisons.  At peak production levels, the prisons can get a quarter of their energy from the solar setups. State officials expect to save $100,000 in energy costs per year, per prison …

The prisons, Ironwood and Chuckawalla Valley, are located next to each other, about 90 miles east of Palm Springs in the Mojave Desert, in the southern half of the state … Ironwood State Prison incarcerates some 4,700 male felons. Chuckawalla Valley State Prison houses another 3,900. The prisons’ populations range from minimum to medium security. Each facility has about 1,000 people on staff … They’re ideal locations for solar installations, according to Paul Verke, a spokesman for the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, or CDCR. “We have space in terms of land, and access to facilities and security,” said Verke. “The operation of a solar power plant works well with the layout.”

The full detailed story can be found at Investors.com.

jakking California, Environment and Energy