NCJ Number
199931
Journal
Corrections Today Magazine Dated: April 2003 Pages: 122-123,146
Date Published
April 2003
Length
3 pages
Annotation
This article describes the Kit Carson Correctional Center’s dog-training program for inmates.
Abstract
The dog-training program at the Kit Carson Correctional Center in Colorado uses inmate handlers to provide trained canines to community agencies who, in turn, provide the dogs to people with disabilities. The Service Dog Training Program began in March 2002, in cooperation with the Canine Assistance, Rehabilitation, Education and Services (CARES) organization, a local nonprofit agency that supplies trained dogs to the elderly, disabled people, children, and adults to assist them in independent living. The program helps inmates by providing job training and the therapeutic functions of healing hearts and spirits. The program works by providing inmates with a canine that accompanies the inmate everywhere in the correctional facility, including living in the inmates’ cell. The inmate handlers follow a strict schedule that begins at 5:30 a.m. and concludes at 9 p.m. Inmate handlers must take their dogs for scheduled bathroom breaks and exercise breaks; they must train their dogs in certain skills; and must ensure that the dogs learn how to love, trust, and bond with people. The dog-training program not only benefits the community by providing trained canines to those in need, it also has benefits for the inmates who participate in the popular program. The program has been shown to have a positive effect on inmates’ morale and physical health. Inmates with health or discipline problems have shown considerable improvement in health and attitude within a very short time of being paired with a canine. As such, the Service Dog Training Program is considered a successful inmate program.