ABOUT THIS BOOK

What is the role of multi-species ecologies in creating spaces that counteract the violence in carceral systems and environmental destruction? This book brings together, for the first time, contributions on issues related to prison, jail, and reentry programs, community-based interventions, environmental justice, and sustainability. Through rigorous analysis, detailed case studies, poetry, and personal reflections, the book offers ways of thinking and acting at the intersection of environmental issues and the carceral system. It gathers hard-earned wisdom and insight of researchers, activists, practitioners, and community leaders from within and beyond prison walls who have taken up their projects despite profound institutional constraints.

Approaches in the book range from reform to abolition, as authors detail both practical interventions and imaginative courses of action. More than a contribution to academic knowledge, the book also uniquely highlights voices of those who are incarcerated, survivors of crime, and institutional stakeholders. In addition to writing about the carceral system based on research and personal experience, authors describe practices that are creating transformative spaces of environmental education, building effective pipelines for green workforce development, and sustaining reciprocal relationships for eco-social healing.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

MATTHEW DELSESTO is the coordinator for the Initiative for Community Justice and Engaged Pedagogy at Boston College where he also teaches in the sociology department. He has worked as an educator in prisons and jails for more than twelve years and developed a number of collaborative projects with community-based organizations. His research and practice have been funded by the National Science Foundation, Hearst Foundations, and Center for Human Rights and International Justice. He is the author of Design and the Social Imagination (2022).

DANIELA JAUK-AJAMIE is an assistant professor of sociology and criminal justice studies at the University of Akron, Ohio. She is a certified clinical sociologist and serves on the board of the American Association of Applied and Clinical Sociology (AACS). She co-authored the book Gardening Behind Bars: Clinical Sociology and Food Justice in Incarcerated Settings (2024).

ELIZABETH LARA currently works as a garden educator, Dodger Stadium tour guide (with a specialization on the botanic garden tour), a facilitator for a domestic violence intervention program, and a freelance gardener. Her academic research focuses on gardens and horticultural history in current and former sites of incarceration in California. Her work “Prison Gardens and Growing Abolition” has been published in the edited collection The Promise of Multispecies Justice (2022).

SHEA ZWERVER works to bring nature to carceral settings, increase access to nature to promote prosocial behavior, and improve quality of life through equity-driven practices. From 2016 to 2022, she served in multiple roles with Pennsylvania’s Department of Conservation and Natural Resources. There, she conceptualized and coordinated a vocational and educational training program–the “Correctional Conservation Collaboration” at state prisons in arboriculture, forestry, and natural resource conservation.

REVIEWS

"An imaginative montage of cutting-edge research, poetry, history, social criticism, and timely storytelling, this inspiring text puts the voices of incarcerated people, survivors of crime, horticultural educators, correctional reformers, and prison abolitionists in conversation with each other and with the wider ecology of nature to which we belong."— Stephen Pfohl, professor of sociology at Boston College

"Ecologies of Justice is so rich and multidimensional; I applaud the public sociology orientation of the book and how it is written by multiple people from multiple perspectives at the intersection of carceral issues and ecology. The person-centered language also illustrates some of the disconnects between academic discourse and how people describe their own experiences of oppression."— Meghan Kallman, coauthor of The Conceivable Future: Planning Families and Taking Action in the Age of Climate Change

"Ecologies of Justice is a compelling exploration of the intersection between environmental justice and the carceral system. The voices of incarcerated individuals, survivors of crime, and institutional stakeholders highlight the transformative potential of ecological practices, from prison gardens to community-based environmental education. Poetry and reflections enhance the book's emotional resonance, illustrating justice and healing through connection to nature. More than academic discourse, it is a testament to resilience and innovation in creating a more just, sustainable world."— Christine Lynn Norton, professor of social work at Texas State University

"This profound volume weaves a remarkable and informative tapestry from voices that raise awareness and pose solutions for two of our most urgent societal concerns: carceral and environmental. The editors have taken time and care to include expressions from diverse people and multiple genres—from poetry to expository—to ensure that the full range of textures and meanings has been included."— Nalini Nadkarni, professor and director of the Initiative to bring Science Programs to the Incarcerated (INSPIRE) at

"Ecologies of Justice opens up a dynamic space of dialogue between fields of study and practice too often treated separately: environmental resilience and sustainability on the one hand and mass incarceration and the carceral state on the other. It firmly situates justice debates at the crossroads of environmental degradation and social exclusion."— Paul Draus, faculty director at the University of Michigan Detroit Center and professor of sociology at the Univ

"Ecologies of Justice offers an important reflection on the intersection between environmental justice, ecology, crime, and prison. The authorship is unique, comprised of practitioners, academics, community representatives, and the incarcerated community. This combination is rare but necessary, ensuring a well-rounded discussion of the ecologies of justice that places those most directly impacted at the center of the conversation."— Omi Hodwitz, associate professor at the Prison Education Initiative and the Department of Culture, Society, and J

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents
Yarrow
Frederick Livingston
Introduction
Matthew DelSesto, Daniela Jauk-Ajamie, Elizabeth Lara, and Shea Zwerver

Part I: Contexts
Jury Duty
Frederick Livingston
Chapter 1: The Environmental and the Carceral
Matthew DelSesto, Daniela Jauk-Ajamie, Elizabeth Lara, and Shea Zwerver
Chapter 2: Remembering a Leader, Continuing the Work
Carlos Rosado
Chapter 3: Soil Therapy
Genea Richardson and Brendon Wilson
Chapter 4: How Soil Acts as a Living Witness to Racial Violence
Leanna First-Arai
Chapter 5: The Politics of Concrete
David Helps
Chapter 6: Temporal Misalignment
William Anderson
Chapter 7: A Prison Tree
Morgan Godvin

Chapter 8: Healing Our Relationship to the Land
Ki’Amber Thompson

Part II: Inside
The Garden Sleeps
Joe McManus
Chapter 9: From Insight Garden Program to Land Together
Elizabeth Lara
Chapter 10: The Sustainability in Prisons Project
Kelli Bush
The Compost Pile
Brian Auclair
Chapter 11: Worm Farming in Washington State
Nicholas Hacheney and Tomas Keen
Chapter 12: Set Free Through Sustainability
Juan Hernandez
Chapter 13: Prison with Purpose
Trip Finity Taylor and Cory Campbell
Metamorphosis
Frederick Livingston
Chapter 14: Warrior and Weaver Work
Rebekah Mende
Chapter 15: Sustaining Oases
Rima Green and Erika Rumbley
Chapter 16: Liberatory Spaces in Prison
Raquel Pinderhughes, Josie Phoenix, and Patrick Gazeley-Romney

Part III: Outside
Meet Needs, Meet Growth
Stephanie Moniz
Chapter 17: Preparing for What’s Next Through Farming and Community
Kristen Powers and Linda Cayton
Chapter 18: The Canoe Project
Elizabeth Hawes
Chapter 19: Food and Community as Disruptive Methodology
Kelsey Timler and Nyki Kish
Chapter 20: Growing Community Beyond the Fence
Sam Phillips and Daniela Jauk-Ajamie
Chapter 21: Therapeutic Horticulture as an Intervention with Women Who Have Experienced Abuse and Intimate Partner Violence
Claire Renzetti, Diane Follingstad, Rachel Reeves and Caihing Li
Chapter 22: Losing Paul and Finding Him in the Cardinal
Judith Foster
Son to Mother
Brian Auclair
Chapter 23: Becoming Ecosystem Participants
Jarid Manos and Abiodun Henderson

Conclusion
Matthew DelSesto
Afterword
Matthew Delsesto, Daniela Jauk-Ajamie, Elizabeth Lara, and Shea Zwerver
Notes on Contributors