Corrections_Today_May_June_2020_Vol.82_No.3

available, as these are all farm sites. The only cost associ- ated with beginning the program was the purchase of a compost thermometer, which cost less than $25. Any sav- ings generated by the composting program are absorbed into the facility budget, making this a good incentive for making the composting program work. The project team scheduled an initial visit with the warden or superintendent and key personnel, which included the farm manager, food service manager, chief of security, and business manager. The initial site visit involved compost training, discussions about operational logistics, finding sourcing material and potential uses for the finished compost. Many of these sites are located near entities that can supply free wood chips, leaves and other carbons — places like VDOT, tree-trimming companies or municipalities that collect yard waste. Additionally, VADOC headquarters in Richmond diverts shredded cardboard and paper to nearby facilities having difficul- ties finding sufficient carbon sources. All of the smaller sites use a traditional static pile or passively aerated static pile method of composting. Staff and offender workers are responsible for mixing material, recordkeeping, moisture control, and general pile man- agement. According to Jerry Townsend, superintendent of the Rustburg Correctional Unit, “The offenders assigned to the compost operation develop the skills necessary to maintain compost operations and documentation along with providing a community service in large quantities of food waste are no longer becoming part of the local landfills.” To date, all nine of the small facilities targeted at this initial stage have maintained a compost operation. Each location has already reduced or plans to reduce the num- ber and size of rented dumpsters with the renewal of their waste management contracts.

Photo courtesy Lois Fegan

Winston Davis, Institutional Safety Specialist & Site Compost Coordinator, seen at the Green Rock Correctional Center, Chatham, VA.

by an adjacent Work Center that transports low-level offenders to the larger institution. Green Rock Correc- tional Facility Warden Melvin Davis said that they “are excited to be composting at Green Rock. This program allows us to divert food waste from the local landfill, which reduces harmful greenhouse gases. This process also allows us to enrich the soil at Green Rock, improv- ing our agribusiness production over time. There were initial concerns about composting having an unpleasant smell, but I am glad to report that this isn’t the case at all.” These larger locations have the space, equipment and labor to support a large compost operation. However, a lack of nearby sources of carbon material is the major roadblock since these locations are often too far from VDOT sites and not convenient to municipalities that may collect yard waste. Some tree trimming companies and wood-based businesses offer sawdust and wood-waste for sale, which could be an option for some sites, but not for others. The project team was able to divert unused grant funds to a few large facilities to purchase an initial supply of woodchips to help them begin composting while also exploring alternate sources of material in the future. “Greensville Correctional Center is dedicated to help- ing the facility and the county of Greensville become

Challenges with larger, more remote facilities

Most of Virginia’s larger prisons are located in more remote areas and house a higher-risk offender popula- tion. The larger sites included in the grant program all have between 1,000 and 3,000 offenders, thus generat- ing a significant amount of trash and food waste. These locations all have farms, per the requirements of the grant solicitation, and the agricultural work is provided

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