Daily Archives: December 4, 2014

Sweat Lodge Provides Inmates Access to Traditional Ceremonies

Posted on by

SweatlodgeFLAGSTAFF – The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office has several programs to address the traditional needs of our inmate population. One of these programs is the provision of a sweat lodge ceremony, and recently our facility conducted two Sweat Lodge Ceremonies for inmates.

For some Native American cultures the Sweat Lodge Ceremony provides purification and balance of body, mind, spirit and emotions and can serve as a Prayer Circle, or a Healing Circle transforming the Old Self into the New Self. Rocks are heated in a fire pit outside the structure and then brought inside and placed in a small hole in the ground; there is no fire inside the structure. The ceremony is conducted in four parts and might last as long as three hours with breaks. A traditional Messenger helps perform the ceremony. We plan to make Sweat Lodge Ceremonies available to the inmate population on a monthly schedule.
sweatcrow2
This is one of many programs our facility and staff offer to help inmates initiate positive life changes. The programs include opportunities for life changes supported by spiritual, religious, educational, health, and substance abuse treatment approaches. While the Sheriff’s Office strives to make available recognized religious, recovery and a variety of self-improvement programs to the diverse cultures representing in the inmate population, we also recognize that approximately 50% of the people in our custody are of Native American descent. For this reason our programs include Sweat Lodge and a Hogan which may be unique compared to programs offered at facilities elsewhere in U.S. detention facilities. Partnership with the Navajo Behavioral Health Services has been vital to the success of many of these programs.

At the Coconino County Detention Facility we believe that time spent incarcerated can be turned into productive time, and inmates can leave our facility with improved life skills and a determination to make positive changes in their lives. Many of the programs provided to inmates are funded by the Inmate Welfare Fund which comes from commissary and phone usage fees. We are committed to enhancing inmate programs which benefit not only the inmates in custody but also can have broader reaching effects on our community as a whole.

Toolkit for Conducting Electronic Waste Recycling Events Now Available for Use by Border Region Communities

Posted on by

ADEQ-2PHOENIX – Arizona Department of Environmental Quality officials announced today that free toolkits for conducting free electronic waste (e-waste) recycling events in Arizona municipalities in the border region are now available.

A total of $115,150 is being utilized from a collaboration of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Border 2020 Program, the Border Environmental Cooperation Commission (BECC) and ADEQ to produce educational materials and conduct nine free e-waste recycling events in the southern Arizona communities. As part of the grant, ADEQ entered into a technical assistance agreement with BECC.

The recycling events will be held in Nogales, San Luis, Somerton, Wellton, Sahuarita, Patagonia, Douglas, Sierra Vista and Bisbee beginning early next year through the end of August 2015. ADEQ has retained a certified recycler that adheres to best practices to safely manage e-waste and protect public health and the environment.

The goal of the grant is to recycle, rather than send to a landfill, 100,000 pounds of e-waste in the border region and to have each of the communities develop capacity to hold annual e-waste recycling events.

“ADEQ has had a very successful free electronic waste recycling program focusing on central and northern Arizona the past five years,” ADEQ Director Henry Darwin said. “We are excited now to be offering these free opportunities to border region residents. This is a great opportunity for people to dispose of all the unwanted electronics they have collected over the years while at the same time ensuring that this potentially toxic stream of waste is disposed of responsibly and doesn’t take up valuable landfill space.”

ADEQ and the non-profit group Keep Arizona Beautiful will be conducting workshops in how to conduct the e-waste events during December throughout southern Arizona.

The toolkit, available in both English and Spanish, contains templates of media releases and flyers, options for selecting e-waste recycling companies, a how-to guide in conducting an e-waste event, educational materials, and volunteer sign-off forms. The toolkit will also be available in Spanish to facilitate these events in the border, ultimately benefitting the broadest communities.

“Every year, households in the U.S. discard more than two million tons of obsolete electronic products such as computers, cell phones and televisions,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “The goal of this toolkit is to educate communities on proper electronic recycling and prevent valuable materials from being thrown away.”

Border 2020 is a bi-national collaborative effort with a mission to protect human health and the environment along the U.S.–Mexico border. For more information on the Border 2020 Program, please visit www.epa.gov/border2020.