Airway Heights Corrections Center (AHCC)
This facility integrates environmental stewardship with vocational training and community service. The facility features large-scale gardens—including a unique Diversity Garden—pollinator habitat, beekeeping, composting, and waste sorting that dramatically reduce waste and produce fresh food for kitchens and donation. Incarcerated technicians refurbish computers for schools, train service dogs, and create valuable compost and firewood for local partners. AHCC also supports innovative practices like worm farming.
Program Partners Highlights
Beekeeping
Highlights – December 2025
In 2025, 3 healthy hives were taken care of by incarcerated journeyman level beekeepers. This program also supported the successful graduation of 48 individuals with beekeeping certificates that
will be useful for future job opportunities.
Partners:
Community Work
Program Highlights:
The Community Work Crews are essential to the conservation of Eastern Washington, as they remove wood that presents a fire hazard, which is then processed and donated to provide heat for those in need. In 2025, the work crews processed and delivered over 566 cords of wood, provided 28,170 hours of community service, and played a significant role in the cleanup of the Gray Fire in Medical Lake.
Partners:
Spokane Neighborhood Action Partners
Computers 4 Kids
Program Highlights:
ncarcerated technicians participate in a project aimed at refurbishing computers where they learn basic diagnosis, office skills (Excel, Access), shipping skills, and test for a certification. In 2025, technicians refurbished 21,563 PCs, laptops, and monitors to surplus with 2,049 of those items went to local schools.
Partners:
Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, WA Department of Enterprise Services
Diversity Garden
Highlights – December 2024
Rows of native herbs (lavender, sage, and sweet grass) blessed by local Native American elders to be used in Native American spiritual services.
Flower gardens
Program Highlights:
Throughout the prison, several gardens can be found, for the benefit of human and wildlife well- being.
Forestry
Program Highlights:
The DNR Camps program transports crews into Washington’s forests to provide silviculture and firefighting training. These crews have fought wildfires and planted tens of thousands of trees and thin overgrowth to prevent further threat of wildfire catastrophes
Partners:
Gardens: Main
Highlights – December 2025
The main gardens witnessed more than 5,278 pounds of produce that were grown and used in the facility’s kitchen or donated.
Partners:
Master Gardeners, Woman and Childer’s Free Restaurant and Community Kitchen
Gardens: Minimum
Highlights – December 2025
In 2025, MSU established a fully operational greenhouse, allowing them to become an independent, sustainable growing and producing program.
Partners:
Large-scale composting
Program Highlights:
In 2025, AHCC increased the size of their composting piles and created around 100 cubic yards of compost to use within the facility.
Nature Imagery
Program Highlights:
Incarcerated individuals in maximum security can opt to watch nature imagery; also serves as a space offered to mental health staff to engage in therapeutic discussion during times of mental distress.
Partners:
Pawsitive dog training – prison program
Program Highlights:
This program restarted in 2024. Since then, they have graduated 29 dogs with another 32 registered for the next available session
Partners:
Diamonds in the Ruff, SpokAnimal, Spokane Humane Society
Pollinator forage & habitat
Program Highlights:
Pollinator-friendly plantings throughout the main & minimum areas: flowers, herbs, pussy willow. Large woody debris (log!) and shrubby habitat in pond area
Pumpkin Program
Program Highlights:
In 2025, the Sustainability Program cultivated over 700 vibrant pumpkins, weighing over 7000 pounds, for the purpose of donating them to Shriner’s Children’s Hospital.
Partners:
Reclaimed Water
Program Highlights:
AHCC completed recent renovations to its irrigation infrastructure to utilize reclaimed water from the City of Airway Heights for its irrigation purposes during growing season. As of 2025, approximately 66,698 gallons have been used and show to have significant benefits to plant growth at the facility.
Partners:
Waste sorting & recycling
Program Highlights:
Technicians receive comprehensive on-the-job training provided by DOC staff. For 2025, significant advancements were made on Enviro Drum Operations with 55 tons of cardboard processed and nearly 20 tons of metals. AHCC also separates waste from the facility kitchen to be converted to nutrient-dense soil.
Partners:
Worm farm: Minimum
Highlights – December 2024
In AHCC’s greenhouse’s main garden, they use worm composting to manage waste. In 2025, they composted more than 2000 pounds of food waste from the kitchen. Additionally, they produced 1000 gallons of worm tea, which they used to provide nutrition to all the gardens at AHCC. Currently, they have two large worm bins, each with two sides.
Partners:
“What does science mean to me? Science is the study of the world around us… I would not want to experience life without science.”
Morris Talaga
Program Participant
Stories & Reflections
We design and deliver hands-on programs that connect environmental education.
“I never did well in school and my skills were more on the manual labor side. While I was incarcerated at Cedar Creek Correction Center in 2015 thru…”
Darin Armstrong
Former SPP conservation technician
Together, We Reimagine
What’s Possible
Sustainability thrives on community. Be part of a unique collaboration that bridges
education, environmental justice, and rehabilitation in real, tangible ways.
