Inmates Raise Endangered Plants

Inmate Joseph Njonge at work in the Stafford Creek Corrections Center conservation nursery. (Tom Banse/VOA)

Inmate Toby Erhart sows Harsh Indian Paintbrush seeds in the Stafford Creek Corrections Center conservation nursery. (Tom Banse/VOA)

Inmate Don Snook trained "Smokey" the poodle as part of a program to make shelter dogs destined to be euthanized instead suitable for adoption. (Tom Banse/VOA)

"Dolly" waits for her handler to return from lunch. This rescued shelter dog graduated from a training program at the Stafford Creek prison and has since been adopted. (Tom Banse/VOA)

Oregon State Correctional Institution in Salem is growing Kincaid’s Lupine and Golden Paintbrush, flowers relied upon by the rare Fender’s Blue and Taylor’s Checkerspot butterflies. (Captain Chad Naugle, ODOC)

Inmate Adrianne Crabtree and ODOC Captain Chad Naugle plant violets in a meadow of the Siuslaw National Forest to support recovery of the threatened Oregon Silverspot butterfly. (Larkin Guenther, IAE)

Ernesto Vergne prays at a cross honoring his friend Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado and the other victims at a memorial to those killed in the Pulse nightclub mass shooting, a few blocks from the club in Orlando, Florida.

Kincaid's lupine provides sustenance for rare butterflies when out planted on the Oregon Coast. (Captain Chad Naugle, ODOC)