GreenPrisons had an active October visiting jails in New York, presenting at the Construction Management Institute, and assisting in an onsite visit by representatives from CommTech Systems and EESI Global at the Marion County (KY) Detention Center.
Jailer Barry Brady of the Marion County (KY) Detention Center (pictured above) has taken a pro-active approach to sustainability by soliciting evaluation of his infrastructure by a variety of technicians from across the country. Brady hopes to make a single proposal to the Marion County Fiscal Court (his funding agency) shortly after the first of the year for funding that will improve energy efficiency with the savings paying for the upgrades in the next four years. Brady’s plan calls for the paying off of all physical improvements by 2018 at roughly the same time the bond issue for the original construction of the jail is retired. Items under consideration include a new high efficiency boiler supplemented by solar thermal heat, more efficient lighting and other energies. Long term savings for the Marion County taxpayers are expected to be significant.
The Marion County Detention Center (MCDC) will also be the recipient of the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) first technical assistance grant to fund a sustainability assessment for the jail. This will allow jail administrators to prioritize projects now and in the future.
Once again GreenPrisons had the opportunity to present at the CMI conference in Indianapolis October 11-14. This annual gathering of facility maintenance directors brings together experts in correctional maintenance from around the country. This year was no exception with an exhibit hall with more than 40 exhibitors, many of which were focused on sustainable products and services.
GreenPrisons CEO Tommy Norris provided an update on sustainable efforts around the country focusing on staff as the key ingredient in making sustainable practices work.
CMI will be in Virginia next year. Follow www.GreenPrisons.org for more information.
Tommy Norris toured three jails in upstate New York including the Ulster County Justice Center (pictured above), and the Albany and Rensellear County Facilities as well. The message was well received and we learned that, not unlike the rest of the country, different agencies are in different stages of adopting sustainable practices and technology.
The visit was facilitated by Joe Marchese, a long time trainer and consultant to jails around the country and Brad Ebel, Corrections Advisor to the Ulster County Sheriff.
In addition to visiting the jails we had the opportunity to speak to about 25 jail administrators from the area during their regular monthly training luncheon. They were a very receptive crowd and we are looking forward to seeing several of them again at the AJA conference on the ECO-Aisle.