Sustainability has become a major buzz word here at Stafford Creek Corrections Center.  By partnering with Evergreen Community College a lot of programs have been started at Stafford Creek that have been a benefit to the inmates as well as to the environment.  Prairie grass from Fort Lewis is being reseeded in greenhouses, honey is being harvested from bees, fresh fruit and vegetables are hitting the dining hall tables, and garbage is being sorted.  However, that is not all that has been happening at Stafford Creek. 

The programs were created to offer sustainability in the prison environment (which can be a very expensive operation) but also to teach the inmates about green jobs and give them a sense of their environment for when they leave the prison.  To that end, lectures about the environment, green jobs, and recycling have been attended by many of the inmates, even those not involved in the actual programs.  Such success has led to the donations of books to the library to give the inmates further information about these subjects.  These books will be added to the collection and made available to all the inmates in the instituion.  After this is done, I will be looking at the long list of suggestions by the inmates and adding to this topic.  Looking at the list I just received today I have found a few more that they would like to see on the shelves. 

Green is becoming a very powerful color and the inmates are joining the revolution.