K-9 Connection
CCA facilities open doors to dogs
Bay Correctional Facility takes in more "cell pals"
Sometimes it takes a correctional facility to raise a K-9, and Bay Correctional Facility is now the temporary home to 55. The facility's K-9 training program, also known as "Cell Pals," recently welcomed more than a dozen new puppies.
"We are now the largest prison K-9 training program in the country," says Elizabeth Bealor, Bay’s assistant warden of Programs.
The K-9s were contributed and fully funded by Auburn University Canine Detection Training Center, which teaches dogs to detect bombs for law enforcement agencies, the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Armed Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan. To accommodate the growing puppy population, Cell Pals now has 50 additional inmates who serve as helpers and handlers. Handlers have primary responsibility for the K-9s while helpers are secondary caregivers.
"The success rate of detection K-9s raised with the prison system is 85 percent, compared to 35 percent if they were raised in a home their first two years," Bealor says. "We take Auburn's puppies at eight weeks old and do basic bomb detection training for the first two years of their lives. At the end of two years when they graduate, they go on to advanced training at the university."
Since the program's inception in 2005, the facility has trained 50 K-9s, including some award-winning detection dogs.
"A dog trained here went to work with the Huntsville, Ala., police department and won the 2008 Explosive Detector Dog National Championship at the U.S. Police K-9 Association Competition," says Bealor.
Cell Pals also includes nine facility K-9s that are being trained for Canine Companions for Independence, a non-profit provider of assistance dogs for people with disabilities.
"The day that these dogs leave is the saddest day in most of the inmates' lives because they're with them 24/7," Bealor says. "They know, though, that these dogs are going to be doing something amazing for the country."
Saguaro Correctional Facility welcomes Second Chance dogs
While inmates at Saguaro Correctional Facility are undergoing rehabilitation, their new K-9 counterparts are, too.
In September, the facility began partnering with Second Chance at Life, which is an alliance between prisons and the National Greyhound Foundation. The program, which lasts from eight to nine weeks per canine, prepares retired racing greyhounds for adoption. Inmates learn compassion as well as vocational and team skills in the process.
"These unwanted greyhounds would typically be euthanized or killed inhumanely," explains Todd Thomas, Saguaro warden.
"They kill over 100,000 greyhounds a year, even with the rescue shelters," says chief of unit management Norm Carrier, who oversees the program.
"We're starting out with eight K-9s and teaching them basic socialization skills to get them ready for adoption," says Thomas. "We want the dogs to be comfortable around large groups of people."
Participating inmates are responsible for K-9s' daily care, including feeding, basic training and recreation. Primary and secondary handlers – housed in the same cell – share responsibility for each dog.
"With this program, we’re specifically targeting our high-custody inmates who have long-term sentences," says Thomas.
The expected turnover, or time until adoption, for each animal is approximately three months.
"Whenever an adoption occurs, we’ll have a graduation ceremony for both the inmate and K-9," Thomas says.
By DeAndra Mack
Correct Perspectives, November 2009
Sound Out
Linda Sevison at Idaho Correctional Center:
These types of programs create a win-win situation for the inmates and the dogs. The Idaho Correctional Center partners with the Idaho Humane Society with a program entitled: Inmate Dog Alliance Project of Idaho. Since its inception in 2004, nearly 200 dogs have graduated from the program. Each dog must pass the American Kennel Club's Good Citizenship Test after completing the 8-week training program. The dogs learn socialization skills and the inmates learn responsiblity. It's a great program and a real benefit to any facility desiring to undertake such a challenge. Kudos to Saguaro and Bay facilities.