The sun was shining, there was a cool breeze, and even better; the weather forecast was calling for in excess of six inches of rain the following day. This would be perfect for the project taking place at Shelby County Detention Center in Memphis, Tennessee. I could hardly contain my excitement as I was about to witness my first institution project as a member of the GreenPrisons team!

For the second time in three years GreenPrisons will exhibit and present at the South Carolina Criminal Justice Association’s annual training conference. This year’s training conference in Myrtle Beach runs from November 13-16, 2016. Conference organizers anticipate over 450 attendees and more than 40 exhibitors.

Building on the success of their initial effort last year in Charlotte, the American Jail Association (AJA) more than doubled the number of exhibitors on this year’s ECO Aisle in Austin at their annual training conference. Exhibitors of diverse sustainable products, technology and services took advantage of this annual gathering of correctional professionals to demonstrate the advantages of their particular brand to the thousands of participants who walked the spacious exhibit hall

GreenPrisons recently welcomed K. B. Industries Inc. (KBI) as our latest sponsor. Although relatively new to corrections they are already off to a great start with new projects going on around the country. KBI created Flexi®-Pave in 2001, the world's first flexible porous paving and offers a comprehensive suite of proven products and solutions to solve the toughest infrastructure challenges.

LTC Stephen Troy Newman of the 508th Military Police Detention Battalion, along with Deputy to the Commander Ennice Hobbs shared various sustainability projects currently being implemented within an Army correctional institution housing a variety of military branch offenders. These projects emphasized the various benefits achieved through the implementation of sustainable projects......

Alice Dasek, a Policy Advisor for the US Department of Energy, presented a multitude of resources available within the scope of sustainable building practices associated with the green initiative. Resources addressed in her presentation included information and assistance around assessing building energy performance, examples of correctional projects that have achieved significant energy savings.......

The energy surrounding the green aisle at the ACA Convention in New Orleans was exciting and showed promise for correctional institutions seeking sustainable practice solutions. At least 13 vendors featuring sustainable products and technology exhibited on the green aisle, and several new exhibitors plan to join us at the Congress of Correction in Boston.....

In 2015 Insight Garden Program has been planting seeds of change from California to New York! With your support, we can continue our national expansion in 2016! In collaboration with Indiana's Department of Correction, IGP recently visited Indiana State Prison and Logansport Juvenile Facility to begin planning for program implementation there! To learn more about the Insight Garden Program click on article.

GreenPrisons joins the American Jail Association in the first AJA sponsored webinar on sustainability focused on jails November 16 at 2:00 PM Eastern Time. The webinar is free and open to practitioner and corporate members alike. This first of two webinars prior to the AJA conference in Austin next April will explore the basics of sustainability including “7 Steps to Sustainability” as identified by Paul Sheldon and Gene Atherton.

Easywater, an innovative technology for treating water, joins GreenPrisons as our fourth sponsor. EasyWater provides innovative water treatment solutions for prisons and other commercial facilities, such as eliminating new and existing lime scale deposits in domestic water systems without using salt. Click on this article's title to learn more about the Easywater system and to hear what some correctional practitioners have to say about the technology.

There is still an opportunity for individuals and agencies to share their sustainability accomplishments with the larger correctional community at the ACA Winter Conference January 22-27, in New Orleans. The deadline for submitting proposals is September 11....

At its Inception last summer there were 12 booths set aside for exhibitors of sustainable products and services. Ultimately 11 of them were filled. This establishment of a dedicated area for one type of product exhibitor was unprecedented in recent ACA history. The idea was that new, smaller vendors.....

ACA President Mary Livers appointed several new members to the Clean and Green committee for her two year term and reappointed Tommy Norris, Founder and CEO of GreenPrisons.org as Chair of the committee....

In little more than twelve months the Green Aisle at the American Correctional Association has more than doubled in size. This unique exhibit area within the larger exhibit hall, allows participants at the conference to focus on exhibitors of sustainable products and services.