Corrections_Today_May_June_2020_Vol.82_No.3

n Green Prisons

being in rural locations with farmland. Program goals in- cluded reducing trash hauling at prisons, reducing landfill waste, saving money and improving soil quality. Ulti- mately, improving local soils through composting leads to improving the quality of water basins in rural Virginia, which was the primary goal of the grant solicitation. In August 2018, the USDA awarded VADOC $88,700 to implement its composting project. The grant period began in October 2018 and ended in December 2019. It required VADOC to hire a technical expert as a project manager for the grant period and host a compost operator to train 30 VADOC staff members to continue the pro- gram beyond the grant period. Starting small VADOC hired a compost project manager in October 2018 to lead a team through the grant period. The project team included the VADOC sustainability administrator and the agribusiness director. The team decided to start

with smaller institutions, learn from both successes and failures, and then gradually grow the program to the larger prisons in the state. Planning for each site involved a discussion about sourcing, collecting and properly mixing four essential elements of composting: air, water, nitrogen (food waste and yard trimmings) and carbon (wood chips, paper, leaves, or hay). The prisons involved in the initial phase of the proj- ect housed less than 500 offenders. The project team estimated that offenders generate about a pound of food waste daily. These smaller sites are correctional field units or community corrections alternative programs. These facilities are low-security sites with a strong emphasis on treatment, job training and reentry. Most of the offend- ers are involved in farming, work release, sanitation and community engagement. Some also serve on road crews with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT). The equipment needs, such as tractors, front-end loaders, shovels and rakes, for the project were generally

Photo courtesy Lois Fegan

Rustburg Correctional Unit, Rustburg, VA.

40 — May/June 2020 Corrections Today