When imagining a prison, one does not usually envision green houses and beekeeping, but this image might become more of the norm. The U is currently holding a workshop to connect science education and sustainability practices with prisons across the country.
Nalini Nadkarni, a professor in the U’s Department of Biology, is the director of the Center for Science and Mathematics Education that implemented the Sustainability in Prisons Project (SPP) in a Washington prison. She was teaching in Washington in 2005 when she came upon an ecological problem and decided to get help from people who do not get access to nature: prisoners.
Nadkarni was driven by the idea that science belongs everywhere and everyone can participate. With all of the environmental problems our world is facing, she said we need help from many places. She had the prisoners help her grow an endangered moss and slowly introduced more sustainability projects while bringing in multiple science lectures.
“It’s bringing our science into a world where really science doesn’t exist,” Nadkarni said. “When a scientist passes through the double gates and stands in front of 50 convicted felons and starts talking about cone snails, or aggression or trees, they hear the questions that are actually really good. Scientists then change their views on where science can belong.”
The moss project began the SPP and the idea has spread nationwide. Representatives from 10 states gathered for a workshop this week at the U to discuss their individual action plans. Nadkarni and others are hoping to create a national network allowing prisons, science educators or conservation groups to answer questions and get advice on how to start this program in their own state.
Leaders of SPP will meet later this year to write a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation to get funds for this project. The success in Washington led the Department of Corrections to also provide some funds to prisons.
In Utah, 20 professors and graduate students are already signed up for a lecture series if all works out with the Utah Department of Corrections. Nadkarni said the Draper Prison and the Salt Lake County Jails have expressed interest as potential partners in this project.
The Utah Department of Corrections already emphasizes education as it is one of the only prisons containing a high school within its walls, so inmates can earn a high school degree while incarcerated. If the project is brought to Utah, the science lectures will count for credit to those working toward a degree.
Nadkarni sees this as a win-win situation. In Washington, the prisoners are having different kinds of conversations and more social contact, and violence has decreased. They are gaining knowledge and helping reduce prisons’ carbon footprint and saving money with composting, recycling and growing their own food. Scientists are also able to talk to a new audience and hear questions and comments different from the typical science perspective.
“It’s an opportunity for faculty members to practice their communication skills and hone their ability to talk to the general public about what it is they do,” said Emily Gaines Crockett, who works in the Center for Science and Mathematics Education. “The audience contains these people with fresh minds essentially, and they can ask really amazing questions that can lead the faculty member to think about their work in different ways or perspectives.”
The prisoners then leave with some knowledge of science and sustainability practices as well as job skills. Some have even been co-authors on research with scientists who visit.
Craig Ulrich served time in the Cedar Creek Corrections Center in Washington and became heavily involved with the composting project. After being released, he was published in a scientific journal with the research he did behind bars and is now working toward a Ph.D. in biochemistry.
“Prisoners aren’t always going to be scum,” Ulrich said at the SPP reception on Thursday night. “You might think they are sometimes, but they are people. They are able to be taught, they are able to learn, and I think they are out to go and do amazing things.”
Nadkarni and others know this is no easy task to get off the ground, but with the many benefits, she is hopeful it will be seen in Utah and other states soon.