Beginning in 2011, Stevens has established a long-term partnership with the Iowa Department of Corrections to create therapeutic environments for prisons, including gardens for prison staff and incarcerated individuals. The team of Iowa State students, prison staff and women offenders at the Iowa Correctional Institution for Women received the 2015 Award of Excellence in Community Service from the American Society of Landscape Architects for completed project phases including outdoor classrooms and a decompression deck. The 2018 design-build project is a garden for children visiting their incarcerated mothers.