First Impressions
Stafford Creek Correctional
Center in Washington stateparticipates in the Sustainability inPrisons Project. Here, an inmate
takes a break from mowing prison
lawns with a push reel mower.
Photo by Benjamin Drummond.
See page 12.

Interpreting in Prisons
The Sustainability in Prisons Projecta m y s ta s c hwith
kelli bushcarr i leroy
nalini nadkarni
d a n pa c h o l k e

12 July/August 2012

In July 2010, I found myself
at the gates of Stafford Creek
Corrections Center, turning overmy identification in return for abadge. Prison staff escorted me
through a series of gates, which I
heard dramatically slam behind me.
After another series of checkpoints,
we arrived in a multipurpose room,
where we hastily moved tables andchairs, set up a projector, and tested
a microphone. In prior work I’dspoken to large audiences and neverneeded a microphone—but myaudiences had never been quite thislarge, and never quite this inquisitive.
I nervously worried that the subject
wasn’t “real” or “tangible” enoughand that I’d insult the audience byattempting to transport them far
from the walls that confined them.
Some of these inmates had been in
prison for years; could they relate
to the bears and wildness of Katmai
National Park and Preserve? For thenext 90 minutes I would offer thesame evening program I’d offered
for two seasons as a seasonal ranger
at Katmai, but with a stronger doseof conservation biology, and “hard”

well-aligned with the need to offer
incarcerated individuals positive
programs that serve to inspireconnection with community andgood stewardship of our natural andcultural resources.
Process
SPP acknowledges the interpretive
process by aiming to engage inmateswith multiple opportunities over aperiod of time. Monthly lectures areoffered at four correctional facilities,
presented by a variety of speakers. Theprogram is a partnership between
The Evergreen State College andthe Washington Department ofCorrections that actively engages
the academic and conservation
community to bring scientists andsustainability experts into prisons.
With SPP, interpretation is a process
for both the audience and interpreter/scientist. The program engages
scientists in a medium and activity
that may be unfamiliar—presenting

Benjamin Drummond

Benjamin Drummondscience. For 90 minutes I would feed
off some of the most engaged andingenious questions I’d heard in mycareer, and forget about the uniforms
worn by the prisoners, or what may
have brought them to prison.
In Washington state, theSustainability in Prisons Project(SPP) is challenging our assumptionsof prisons, prisoners, prison staffs,scientists, and conservation biology.
This innovative project brings together
prisons, academics, and conservation
partners to leverage financial
and human resources to further

conservation goals while reducing theenvironmental, economic, and humancosts of prisons.
While working to furtherconservation, SPP asks us to ask
questions about ourselves. As citizens,scientists, and interpreters, how do weview prisons and prisoners? What are
the conceptions and misconceptions
we hold of these places and people?
How do we interpret the role ofprisons in our society? How doesa prisoner view the prison theyoccupy? How does a prisoner view
their relationship with society andtheir ability to contribute? What
impact might science education andconnection with the natural world
have on incarcerated individuals?
How do we view ourselves, as
scientists, in society?
More than 1.5 million people
are in prison in the United States.
In many states, recidivism, orthe likelihood of an inmate
recommitting a felony within threeyears of release, hovers at 70 percent,according to the Bureau of Justice
Statistics. However, whether we havefamily members who are survivorsof violent crime, or we simply findit easier to not think about, inmates
experience a very different daily
life than the rest of us. The prison
gates serve not just as physical, butalso metaphorical barriers between
prisoners and society. Some stateswork to engage inmates in educationand drug treatment programs provento reduce recidivism, while otherstates struggle to keep up with thetides of incarceration.
Central to SPP’s work is breaking
down our known definitions ofeducation, conservation, andinterpretation.
Interpretation’s forefather
Freeman Tilden said, “Interpretation
is a communication process designed
to reveal meanings and relationshipsof our natural (and cultural) heritage
to the public through firsthandexperience with objects, artifacts,
and landscapes” [emphasis added].
As interpreters and scientists westrive to engage audiences in thistype of learning, an objective that is

Stafford Creek Correctional
Center inmates tend to a
Legacy 13garden whose vegetables areincorporated into meals.

To the PublicFundamental to developing aninterpretive program is defining youraudience. As much as we emphasize
the inmates, the “audience” of the
Sustainability in Prisons program isbroad and multifaceted. The project
staff itself is an audience, interactingwith varied stakeholders anddeveloping unique perspectives onprisons, conservation, and education.
It is the graduate and undergraduate
students who serve as the ambassadorsof the program, spending time in
the prisons engaging inmates inconservation projects and writing
papers and theses on the science
involved. It is the scientists whocome and give talks, and find theexperience as eye opening for them as
it was for the inmates. It is the prison
staff members to escort project staff
and facilitate conservation projects,
sit in on lectures, and develop theirown strategies for reducing resource
consumption and waste in the prisons.
The media have helped share theproject far beyond the prison walls, by
telling the community about positive
contributions inmates are making andthe education occurring in prisons.
The staff is careful to constantly ask
who the audience is, what the intention
is, and what the possible ripples are.

14 July/August 2012

Benjamin Drummondto the non-scientific audience in a
prison—while also providing a newexperience and understanding of
the prison environment (typicallypresenters are also offered a tour ofthe facility and conservation projects).

At Stafford Creek Corrections Center, inmates sort garbage, diverting compostand recyclables.

Reveal Meanings andRelationships
A few everyday scenes with theSustainability in Prisons Project:• An inmate collects data including
temperate and water quality toensure continued growth of frogs
in their care.

• An inmate delicately transfers butterfly larvae to a food source plant.

SPP engages inmates in monthly
lecture series, occasional workshops,
and conservation projects—working
with endangered and threatened
species including native prairie plants,
Oregon spotted frogs, and Taylor’scheckerspot butterflies. For months at• An inmate sprinkles native plantseeds that will be used for habitat
restoration projects.

Benjamin Drummond

At the Stafford Creek Corrections Center greenhouse, inmates tend to native
prairie plants that are transplanted into habitat at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

a time, inmates work day in and dayout, paying diligent and continuous
attention to living entities. Some
inmates comment that their timeworking on conservation projects
represents the first time they have felt
compelled or responsible to care foranother thing. The seedling, frog, orbutterfly pupae an inmate cares forcomes to represent their linkage to theoutside world, their opportunity tocontribute. For some inmates, theselinkages become parallel to otherareas and relationships in their lives,including their friends and families.
Firsthand Experience
Many who agree to present talks for
SPP worry that their presentations
may not be relatable enough to aninmate. Is it rude to enter a prison
and talk to them about people andplaces far beyond the walls? Can they
relate to or understand talks about
phenomena occurring far away? SPP
has found that inmates will indeed
engage in these subjects, and often findparallels, analogies, and metaphorsthat do relate to their daily encountersin prison. Climate change can be seenin the weather patterns of the areas
prisons are located. With an increasing
number of these inmates working with
SPP and/or prison jobs in gardens
and landscaping, they can relate to
the soil, moisture, plants, and thefood cycle. Inmates had and will havelives outside of the prison. According
to the Washington Department ofCorrections, 96 percent of inmatesin Washington state may be released
from prison. And when they returnto society, they will make decisions topurchase goods, participate in society,and be community members. We canacknowledge their past experience,
and what their experience in thefuture may be.
The 21st-century environment
challenges us to broaden our baseand be relevant to our audiences.
This relevance is the subject ofcountless meetings, conferences, andbrainstorming sessions. Efforts likethe Sustainability in Prisons projectremind us that creativity can build
bridges, leverage resources, andmagnify results. How can we, asinterpreters, emulate SPP and more
broadly define our audiences in ourparks, museums, and zoos? How canwe creatively leverage community
groups, organizations, andinstitutions to embrace conservation,education, and the environment asunified purposes, rather than separate
special interests?
Although fundamentally aconservation program engaging
scientists, inmates, and others ineducation and active conservation
projects, the Sustainability in Prisons
Project reaches beyond definitions
and asks all of us—citizens, scientists,interpreters, inmates—to consider
our roles, our capacity to have an
impact, and the assumptions andstereotypes we may carry.
For More Information
Bureau of Justice Statistics.
http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov
Sustainability in Prisons Project.
www.sustainableprisons.org.
Washington Department ofCorrections. Quarterly Fact
Card, March 31, 2012. http://www.doc.wa.gov/aboutdoc/docs/
msFactCard_005.pdf
Amy Stasch was interim manager of
the Sustainability in Prisons Projectfrom March to July 2010. She now
holds a permanent position with
the National Park Service. Kelli
Bush is the current manager of theSustainability in Prisons Project.
Carri LeRoy is co-director of theSustainability in Prisons Project andFaculty at The Evergreen State College.
Nalini Nadkarni is senior advisor tothe Sustainability in Prisons Project,and the director for the Center for
Science & Math Education at theUniversity of Utah. Dan Pacholke isco-director of the Sustainability inPrisons Project, and deputy director
of prisons for the Washington
Department of Corrections.
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