Prisons Going Green
An AP news item at Philly.com that I saw linked from Fark (!) has the headline “Energy hogs: prisons now recycle, grow own food.”
Excerpt:
“LITTLEROCK, Wash. - Of all the things convicted murderer Robert Knowles has been called during his 13 years behind bars, recycler hasn’t been one of them.”
“But there he was one morning, pitchfork in hand, composting food scraps from the main chow line and coffee grounds from prison headquarters , doing his part to “green” the prison.”
“”It’s nice to be out in the elements,” said Knowles, 42, stirring dark, rich compost that will amend the soil at the small farm where he and fellow inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center grew 8,000 pounds of organic vegetables this year.”
A previous post from February took notice of a New York Times report that the U.S. has the world’s highest incarceration rate, more than Cuba, Russia, South Africa, or China. Western Europe’s average is 107 per 100,000. The U.S. has over 1,000 per 100,000—greater than 1% are in prison!
