Advocates challenge the suspension of prisoner-led cultural groups at Stafford Creek

Advocates are pushing back against what they say is the sidelining of community prison groups that work to rehabilitate and educate prisoners at Stafford Creek Corrections Center.

They’re called cultural awareness groups, each connecting to different ethnic or racial communities. Together, they call themselves a culture collective.

Inside, they organize across racial and ethnic boundaries, hold cultural events, and host classes on issues like feminism, toxic masculinity, and domestic violence. They also work with loved ones and advocates on the outside to prepare incarcerated people for life beyond the prison’s walls.

Michael Byun is with one of the culture collective’s community partners, Asian Counseling and Referral Services.

“ACRS strongly condemned DOC’s efforts to undermine this cultural group and others like [Nuestro Grupo Cultural] and [Black Prisoners Caucus], whose years of work ensures peers build community, deeply connect with their heritage and culture, and learn important values that will be positive factors for one day returned to community,” Byun said.

The Department of Corrections said that prison-run diversity programs have existed for more than 15 years at its facilities. In January, the agency announced a new, department-led initiative called Pro-Equity Anti-Racism and issued a report on how it’ll apply those goals — partly inspired by diversity, equity, and inclusion objectives laid out in an executive order signed by Gov. Jay Inslee in 2020.

Since the beginning of this year, the Department of Corrections has been moving toward having cultural awareness groups at Stafford Creek operate under the Pro-Equity Anti-Racism initiative. The department said one cultural awareness group is already in the process of aligning itself with the program.

“This process allows prison leadership to have visibility into the group’s actions and activities and can help strategize ways to improve accessibility to programming,” said Christopher Wright, a spokesperson for the Department of Corrections. “There are approved volunteers that assist with [Asian and Pacific Islander] cultural groups. However, [Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Awareness Group] volunteers have not filled out the required forms yet. When that happens, the appropriate process for review will occur.”

Members of the culture collective said they're still thinking about how they'll proceed, and whether they’ll sign onto the prison's new initiative.

Leaders of the Asian Pacific Islander Cultural Awareness Group said they welcome any transparency and aren’t opposed to prison-run diversity programs, but noted that they’re philosophically different entities: Prison-run groups are ultimately organized by prison staff under institutional priorities, while cultural groups like theirs are community-led.