Inmates welcome cats orphaned by Katrina

[pegkerr]

Here's a feel-good story: Female prisoners provide shelter, love for felines abandoned during storm.

It makes me wonder about the rehabilitative effects of companion animals in prisons. I imagine that the tough-on-crime crowd would object, not wanting to "coddle" prisoners, but there is something to be said for teaching people who have taken a wrong turn in life something about being emotionally connected to another being. First animals, then humans? Why not? I think, for example, of the Birdman of Alcatraz, a hardened lifer who turned his life around and eventually became an expert in canary diseases. It all started when he decided to care for an injured bird that fell into the prisoners' exercise yard.

Comments

[tiellan.livejournal.com]

I would consider myself part of the tough-on-crime crowd, but I do believe in rehabilitation too. Have you seen the show Cell Dogs? It was on some cable station a while ago, it's about a program where prisoners train dogs. It's an excellent program, not only do they take care of and form an emotional bond with the dogs, they're also doing something with value. There's another similar progrm where prisoners gentle and train wild mustangs using natural horsemanship principles where they work *with* the horse rather than dominate it. I wish there were more programs like this.

[jbru.livejournal.com]

I think it was an Animal Planet or Discovery Channel show. IIRC, they were training the dogs to be companion animals for the disabled. It showed how, by having to provide consistant discipline to the dogs, they learned self-discipline as well. Definitely a good program.

[guipago.livejournal.com]

It's animal planet and i do believe that they still show it.

I too believe that there is something to be said for caring for someone else before yourself.

Cell Dogs

[nwl.livejournal.com]

Animal Planet. I think this program of inmates raising dogs is not unique. It also wasn't just men, but women as well. There are also classes in prisons for quilting; the ones I've heard about were for ABC Quilts (quilts for border and at-risk babies). Simply Quilts had a segment of one show about a quilter who taught quilting in a woman's prison.

The big hurtle is money. It takes money to present any program.

[orangemike.livejournal.com]

I see no reason why being firm about crimes having consequences need be conflated with supporting a system almost calculatedly determined to embitter and nastify all but the most resilient of souls. We Quakers came up with the idea of penitentiaries: places where erring individuals could be put apart from society (the primary alternative at the time was execution) to think about their deeds and the consequences thereof, and possibly repent of said sins. Instead, we now have these vast monstrosities that distort and harden prisoners and guards alike, unless they have incredible inner resources.

[mamculuna.livejournal.com]

You know, there are some prisons where the inmates train seeing-eye and other working dogs, and perhaps some where they work with retired greyhounds.

And I had a friend who had a llama pack and used them in his therapy with very disturbed teenagers.

Animals. Strange how they teach us to be human--in a better way.