Underscore News

A totem pole now stands outside the Cedar Creek Corrections Center, carved by Albert ‘Al’ Smith, Suquamish, Shoshonne-Bannock and Pima Nation, who helped start the carving program at Cedar Creek. Smith has been incarcerated at the facility since 2024.

The carving program is likely the first of its kind across the country.

“Never in the history, to my knowledge, has anything like this ever been done,” said Jeremy Garretson, Northern Arapaho, the reentry director at Unkitawa, an Indigenous nonprofit that helped establish the program. “This is monumental, is groundbreaking, and is trailblazing, to see that an actual carving program has taken place in a facility of this magnitude.”

Through the program, Smith is also mentoring other Native men incarcerated at the facility.

Written by Nika Bartoo Smith, UNN and ICT
Photos by Jarrette Werk

Building a Carving Community Inside Washington State Corrections - Underscore Native News A totem pole carving program at Cedar Creek Corrections Center supports healing for incarcerated individuals looking to connect with inter-tribal and intergenerational traditional practices.

Underscore receives five awards from the Society of Professional Journalists' 2025 Northwest Excellence in Journalism Awards.

From foster care to serving his country in the military, to serving prison time, Albert Kevin Smith has lived many lives over the past six decades. Today the Suquamish, Shoshone-Bannock, Pima, elder has become the heart and soul of a groundbreaking carving program at Cedar Creek Corrections Center (Cedar Creek) in Little Rock, Washington.

The initiative is a partnership between Cedar Creek, the Washington State Department of Corrections (DOC), the Department of Children, Youth and Families and the Native American nonprofit Unkitawa. Unkitawa holds a contract with the DOC to provide cultural and ceremonial services to incarcerated Native Americans within the state's prison system.

Created in the fall of 2024, the carving program aims to help provide outlets for healing and help foster a connection to culture for those incarcerated at Cedar Creek.

Eliminating the barrier of access to traditional and cultural practices while incarcerated has been crucial for the success and healing for program participants.

This access now allows Smith to utilize his knowledge to mentor younger incarcerated individuals, such as Ordez Kompkoff, Aleut.

Underscore's team visited with Smith and Kompkoff leading up to the March 2 totem pole awakening ceremony, which was held in front of Cedar Creek.

Video by: Jarrette Werk, Underscore News
Reporting by: Jarrette Werk, Underscore Native News, and Nika Bartoo-Smith, Underscore Native News + Indian Country Today

Building a Carving Community Inside From foster care, to serving his country in the military, to servin...