Greening justice – The contribution of green probation

In this expert blog for PRI, authors Rob Allen and Steve Pitts explore how probation services and non-custodial sanctions can meaningfully contribute to environmental sustainability. Building on the recent PRI–UNICRI report Green Prisons, the blog outlines how probation agencies can reduce their ecological footprint, align partnerships with green goals, and embed sustainability within community service placements. The authors highlight promising international practices—from Kenya’s tree planting initiatives to the UK’s nature-based work schemes—while advocating for employment pathways in the green economy. The piece calls for national, regional, and global engagement to advance a “Green Probation Agenda.”

Introduction

The last ten years have seen a growing interest in how a wide range of public services and institutions can better contribute to environmental sustainability. Within the criminal justice system, much of this attention has understandably been directed towards prisons (1). Often comprising a large campus of buildings, prisons offer significant scope for green initiatives which reduce emissions, recycle waste and optimise energy use.

A new report from Penal Reform International (PRI) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) has set out an agenda both for assessing and managing the ecological footprints of prisons and contributing positively to the rights and rehabilitation needs of the people detained in them.

But what about community-based measures for people in conflict with the law? To what extent might they adopt a more ecologically conscious approach and contribute to a more sustainable planet?

After all, while these measures do not generally entail physical infrastructure on the scale of prisons, in some countries the number of people subject to them can exceed those in prison. Moreover, a far broader range of supervised activities is available for people serving their sentences in the community than to those in prison.

The aim of this paper is to suggest ways in which organisations responsible for non-custodial sanctions – most commonly probation services – can embrace a more environmentally sustainable approach to their work.

Sustainable probation

There are three main areas which deserve attention. The first involves ensuring that community supervision is organised as sustainably as possible. This entails considering how physical buildings and working practices can best align with green objectives. Locating offices and halfway houses – where people supervised report or reside, and staff carry out their duties – close to transport hubs; enhancing energy efficiency inside buildings, and maximising recycling opportunities are obvious starting points. The UK has recently opened an all-electric prison that will use 75% less energy than older prisons. Could a similar target be achieved in a probation service?

Important too is the fact that probation organisations often work closely with municipalities, other government departments, and agencies such as the police, as well as with volunteers, victims and many other stakeholders in their efforts to support integration and reduce reoffending. It should not be difficult to identify opportunities to align probation work and partnerships with sustainability goals.

Second, environmental objectives can play a more central role in the content of supervision. The most significant opportunity here lies in the unpaid work undertaken in many countries as part of a community sentence. While making environmental improvements, both large and small, has long been a core aspect of this work – for example in Japan, “social contribution activities” often involve tasks such as cleaning parks and beaches – there are encouraging signs of a greater emphasis on placements and initiatives aimed at combating global warming.

The most significant one is the planting of trees. Trees absorb carbon thereby reducing greenhouse gas. They also combat soil erosion preventing desertification. Tree planting can be included as part of probation conditions in the Philippines, but it occurs on a much larger scale in Kenya. As part of a national initiative, people serving Community Service Orders are contributing to the country’s target of planting 15 billion trees by 2032. Indeed, Kenyan services have embraced the agenda to such an extent that they refer to formerly imprisoned individuals and people undertaking Community Service work as future “Climate Change Ambassadors”

Most countries however lack programmes which explicitly aim to combat climate change.

Some programmatic efforts have been made to maximise environmental impact. The Offenders and Nature schemes in the UK placed people on probation in woodland sites, creating and maintaining footpaths, and opening up dense vegetation to create more diverse habitats. Other placements have involved work to enhance parks, public space amenities, and the grounds of hospitals, as well as clearing canals, improving towpaths for public use, and supporting wildlife conservation.

Recent England and Wales unpaid work initiatives set out to demonstrate what can be achieved when justice and environmental objectives are aligned. Single-use plastics are being removed from Community Service work sites whilst pilots of electric tools aim to decarbonise operations. National partnerships include Forestry England, the Marine Conservation Society and the Canal and Rivers Trust. A biodiversity and tree planting initiative has surpassed a 20,000 tree target, a “Source to Sea” programme has supported waste collection and anti-littering along rivers and coasts, bringing benefits downstream and to the sea, whilst sustainability training for staff and people on probation is building green skills and employment pathways (2).

However, in many cases in jurisdictions around the world, placements tend to be relatively uninspired and fail to make as much of an impact as they could either on the attitudes and skills of unpaid workers or on the environment. Much community service work in Europe, for example, revolves around variations of litter picking.

Even in Kenya, where some of the more creative community service placements – such as tree planting, fish farming, beekeeping and rabbit breeding – are offered, many people serving community sentences complete their hours by clearing overgrown land around the courtroom.There is enormous scope for placements to produce greater economic and environmental impact and to make a more coordinated contribution to needs such as water conservation, climate-resilient crop production, and the management of waste.

To sustain the environmental benefits achieved during a community sentence, attention must be given to a third area: providing activities that offer pathways to employment programmes within the green economy.

Equipping individuals with the appropriate horticulture or even agriculture skills can not only help them earn an income but also contribute to green objectives. The same applies to work in recycling, renewable energy, or insulation. Consequently, consideration should be given to integrating relevant education, vocational training, and even paid work opportunities alongside unpaid work placements. While this approach may not receive universal approval, it is likely to deliver better outcomes, both in terms of rehabilitation and the environment.

Moving Forward

If there is merit in taking forward a Green Probation Agenda, action would be needed at a number of levels.

Nationally, probation services would need to explore options for partnership with both environmental organisations and, where appropriate, with prisons – particularly where the prison service has already started down this road and is delivering initiatives that can be sustained on release. Strategies, keeping environmental and reintegration/rehabilitative objectives in mind, need to include efforts to:
a) apply an environmental perspective to probation infrastructure and processes,
b) develop and coordinate an ambitious programme of unpaid work placements and
c) identify ways of educating and training people serving sentences on green issues.

At regional and international levels, there would be a need for relevant bodies to consider what they can do to promote the agenda. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) is well placed to drive the agenda forward globally. Preparatory meetings are underway for 15th Crime Congress in 2026. Green probation seems to fit well with the overall theme of “Accelerating crime prevention, criminal justice and the rule of law: protecting people and planet and achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in the digital age”.

In Europe the Council of Europe’s Council for Penological Co-operation (PC-CP) could explore these options as part of its role in promoting good practices and standards in the execution of prison and probation sentences.

However, before taking such action, it is necessary to gauge the level of support for the approach. The time has come to engage in this important discussion!

Endnotes

1. See for example White and Graham Greening Justice: Examining the Interfaces of Criminal, Social and Ecological Justice The British Journal of Criminology, Volume 55, Issue 5, September 2015 https://academic.oup.com/bjc/article/55/5/845/481370
2. Thanks to Vaishnav Mahajan, Former National Sustainable Operations Lead for Community Payback, United Kingdom Ministry of Justice, (vaishnavmahajan001@gmail.com) for unpaid work examples, 2024-2025, in England and Wales. Initiatives part of a National Sustainability Action Plan delivered through national and regional working groups. Other steps aiming to make the probation estate and operations more energy efficient include plans to decarbonise at least one “approved premises” (a form of “half-way” house) and for LED lighting upgrades.