Wisconsin prison inmates have been offered a unique way to give back to their community by raising monarch butterflies from the inside.
Set up at Redgranite Correctional Institute (RGCI), the idea first came to the program organizer while looking for something that inmates who were physically unable to participate in sports could do.
Now in its 2nd year, some 20 prisoners currently work in a lepidopterum purpose-built in Redgranite for raising and releasing monarchs, which are in decline across Wisconsin.
The Refuge for Growth, Change and Inspiration Monarch Program was launched in 2025 by Carrie Jahnke. It runs from June through September, during which the prison receives monarch caterpillars from a nearby breeding center, Monarch Watch, and the participants are divided into groups to look after them.
Responsibilities include changing or adding leaves, collecting data on eggs, and tagging the butterflies, all of which will help inform conservation activities as the butterflies prepare to migrate thousands of miles south to Mexico. Jahnke also provides other educational materials about monarchs, pollinator plants, and horticulture.
This delicate, rather dainty work, has nevertheless been popular among the inmates, and this year the program oversaw 100 caterpillars, up from 60 last year.
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“I enjoy being part of this program and being able to give back to the community,” one inmate, Nathan Lecker, remembering raising monarch caterpillars as a child, told Corrections1. “We can make a big impact from the inside.”
Correctional Dept. landscapers have added a variety of monarch-friendly flower beds around the prison grounds to provide additional support to the insects when they leave the enclosure, after emerging from their chrysalises.
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It takes just 2 to 3 days of building up their strength before they’re ready for their long flight south.
“Monarch butterfly populations have been declining for years, and it’s wonderful that RGCI is getting involved with efforts to conserve them,” said Shelly Torkelson, communications director for the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, which helped build the lepidopterum inside the facility.
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