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Yves here. Lambert is always looking for helpers. This story presents the institutional version of helping. Ex-pats have a terrible time finding a regular job. A composting program at a rural prison has evolved into a labor organization that provides ex-prisoners with regular employment and a say in how the business is run.
Damon Orion is a writer, journalist, musician, artist, and teacher in Santa Cruz, California. His work has appeared in Revolver, Guitar World, Spirituality + Health, Classic Rock, High Times, and other publications. Read more about his work at DamonOrion.com. Produced by Local Peace Economy
The stigma of a criminal conviction can be a major barrier to re-entry into society for newly released inmates. A December 2021 report by the Bureau of Justice Statistics highlighted the employment barrier of more than 50,000 ex-prisoners, 33 percent of whom were unable to find work “more than four years” after their release from prison in 2010.
Meanwhile, a 2002 study by the U.S. Department of Labor Justice in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, found that “criminals . . . [were] one-third to one-third are likely to receive first consideration from employers over equivalent applicants with no criminal records.”
In 2018, the Prison Policy Initiative reported that more than 27 percent of the formerly incarcerated population was unemployed—a number that is “higher than the total unemployment rate in the US at any time in history, including the Great Depression.”
Challenges in finding work and housing often create a vicious cycle. A 2021 study, “Recidivism of Prisons Released in 24 States in 2008,” showed that 61 percent of inmates interviewed had returned to prison within ten years.
“Homeless Shelter Use and Reincarceration After Prison Release,” a report on 48,424 inmates released from New York State correctional facilities, concluded that “homelessness increases the risk of incarceration,” and “inversely, incarceration contributes to the increased risk of homelessness.” “
The Compost Co-op, an employee-owned utility in Greenfield, Massachusetts, offers formerly incarcerated people an alternative to this method. Employees there collect compost from customers’ yards and deliver it to the largest farm in western Massachusetts, Martin’s Farm. This enables workers to earn a living by doing meaningful work.
The seeds for this co-op were planted between 2011 and 2015 when Greenfield Community College instructor and future Compost Co-op founder Revan Schendler taught a course at the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office called Crime and Punishment in the US: A Social Overview. “In the classrooms there was an interest in creating a think tank,” explains Schendler.
While speaking at a webinar organized by the US Department of Agriculture in July 2024, Schendler said, “The compost co-op was developed within a rural county jail by incarcerated individuals who identified a lack of meaningful living wage work… According to him, “More than 25 incarcerated individuals have they were previously arrested” are part of the co-op.
In December 2013, members of the Greenfield community began meeting with inmates from the sheriff’s office on a weekly basis. The group, which includes members of the public and prisoners, has gone on nature walks, sponsored annual art and poetry exhibitions, advocated for policy change, and discussed alternatives to incarceration. This think tank created the concept of the Compost Co-op.
Andrew Stachiw, a member of the think tank and teacher in the prison, developed a business plan for the co-op in 2017. The organization was incorporated the following year. It now serves over 300 residential and commercial customers throughout Greenfield and neighboring towns such as Great Falls, Montague, and Deerfield.
Explaining Compost Co-op’s goals during the webinar, Schendler said, “The goals of captive developers included controlling your operations and not being a cog in the wheel, it was another. Two, [having] flexible and non-punitive applications, three give back to the community by protecting the environment, four help the next person out.”
Positive Environmental Impact
With 30-40 percent of food in the US ending up in the trash—about 60 million tons a year—Compost Co-op serves as a model for reducing food waste. It also promotes natural health. As the US Environmental Protection Agency notes, composting reduces greenhouse gas emissions and “improves a community’s ability to adapt to adverse climate impacts by helping soils absorb water and prevent runoff during floods. It also helps the soil to hold more water for a longer period of time, reducing the effects of drought.”
By hiring former incarcerated workers, Compost Co-op also promotes racial justice. By 2023, the Sentencing Project reported that “one in five Black men born in 2001 are likely to be incarcerated. [his] for life.” According to a Pew Charitable Trusts report from the same year, data from a sample of 595 prisons revealed that “blacks make up, on average, 12 percent of the local population but more than double that, 26 percent, of the prison population. .” The same data showed that “[a]By 2022, Black people are four times more likely to be incarcerated than white people.”
Eli Smith, who works in administrative and operational support for the Compost Co-op, feels that the group’s environmental activism is inseparable from its work to support social, racial, and class justice. “Low-income communities and communities of color are the first to see the effects of climate change,” he explained. “[These] communities have been pushed to the edges and less desirable areas of our country or close to rivers and water sources.”
The Compost Co-op’s work helps reduce these conditions by promoting “racial and environmental justice.” A blog from 2023 noted that since its inception in 2018, the collection has “diverted nearly a million kilograms of waste from the waste stream, resulting in reduced methane emissions from landfills, reduced waste going to incinerators (which contributes to high rates of asthma in children) , and small amounts of waste that are shipped by rail from our area.”
Low-income and BIPOC communities are equally vulnerable to health problems caused by air pollution from traffic, industrial facilities, and incinerators.
Fighting Housing Insecurity
In 2024, the state’s annual census reported 29,435 homeless people in Massachusetts. This represented a 54 percent increase from the 19,107 reported in 2023.
According to AffordableHousing.com, applications for affordable housing in Massachusetts can take years to reach the top of the waiting list.
This is especially depressing for newly released prisoners, many of whom are “kicked out on the street without a home, a job, or money,” according to Smith. “Maybe they gave you the things you have [were wearing and] in your pocket when you were arrested. In New England that would mean if you get arrested in July and go to jail in a t-shirt and shorts, they’ll let you go. [in the same clothes] in the middle of December there is snow on the ground. If you don’t have family or friends to support you, you’re homeless.”
The Compost Co-op helps people in this situation. In 2023, the group announced a partnership with design and construction company Oxbow Design Build. A joint letter written by the owner-operators of both co-ops described how the two organizations “transformed a crumbling building in Greenfield into apartments that will last for centuries rather than decades.” A total of six people who faced decades of homelessness and housing insecurity now have homes.”
This step was taken when “seven members with incarceration experience” had to leave the co-op due to a lack of housing. “Employee owners have decided that the business has to find a way to meet that demand or it will not survive or fulfill its mission,” Schendler said during the webcast.
Economic Democracy
Smith notes that in many workplaces, managers and supervisors have authoritarian powers. “Unless you’re lucky enough to be in a union or work in a labor-owned environment, there’s nothing you can do to sway your boss’s decision on something.” He adds that exploitation increases when workers have been incarcerated or face other obstacles to employment such as “low or no pay.” [being] straight white.”
Smith compares this to Compost Co-op’s employee-ownership conditions. “I think a lot about the cause [this group’s founders] wanted an employee co-op is to have agency and the ability to make decisions in your workplace. Most employers like to say, ‘We value your opinion,’ and not listen to anything you say. When I became an employee owner or came close to being one, I learned that I really have a voice in this business, and my coworkers want to hear my opinion. It’s not just lip service.”
Transferring
Smith, who feels that “things have to change on a large scale to really have an impact on issues like incarceration and climate change,” encourages anyone interested in starting a composting co-op to remember that operating methods will vary based on many factors—for example. , the actual location of the region and the political situation. “Even at the local level, laws and regulations have a big impact,” he said.
Recommending the Institute for Local Self-Reliance as a resource for learning about composting, Smith advises would-be composting co-operative founders to take inspiration from many examples. “Learn how they work and take the pieces that you think will work in your area versus trying to directly copy someone else’s composting system.”
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