United Kingdom: Toddler mauled by dog in vicious prison attack while she visited one of UK's toughest jails

UNITED KINGDOM -- A toddler has been injured after a sniffer dog “went crazy” and attacked her while she was visiting a relative at a high security London jail.

The young girl is understood to have been bitten by a drug patrol dog at Belmarsh prison in Woolwich, in the south east of the capital, in an incident that has only just come to light.

Prison authorities investigated the March 31 incident and the dog was withdrawn from service.

A source told the Sunday People: “The dog went crazy and just went for the little girl. She was screaming. Until then, it had just been a routine drugs search.

“The girl’s family are devastated. The kid was just brought along to visit a family member and this prison dog attacked her.

“The family are fuming. They’ve taken legal advice and they’re planning on taking action against the Ministry of Justice.

“They can’t understand how this could have happened.”

The Ministry of Justice said in 2015 there were more than 530 dogs deployed at prisons in England and Wales, performing duties including searching visitors to prevent drugs from being smuggled inside.

The Mirror reported the attack had taken place during a routine drugs test and the girl needed to undergo plastic surgery because of her injuries.

(Huff Post UK - May 14, 2017)

Florida: From prison to paddock: inmates and horses help heal each other

Although this article is from 2012, I stumbled on it today and thought it was worth posting. The program relies on donations, not tax dollars, and is established in several states and has programs that include male inmates as well. 

FLORIDA -- It was Winston Churchill who most accurately illuminated the human-equine emotional connection when he declared “there’s something about the outside of a horse that is good for the inside of a man” or in the case of the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation farm based in Ocala, Florida; a woman.

At the Florida TRF facility the horses are cared for solely by female inmates from the Lowell Correctional Institute, and the vocational program these women participate in is the physical embodiment of Mr. Churchill’s words.

The farm itself is roughly 100 acres of undulating green hills with a well-kept barn and paddocks surrounded by black four-board fencing. Notably, the plank
fences used to contain the 54 horses currently housed at the facility are the only ones on the property.

In fact, there is nothing one can see to suggest this farm is anything other than one of the typical sprawling thoroughbred farms historically endemic to this area, including the extraordinary level of care and attention the horses receive.

The horses housed at the facility consist of approximately 15-20 sponsored thoroughbreds who will live out their retirement years on the farm, grazing alongside those there temporarily with the ultimate goal of adoption and a new career.

These dedicated caretakers are a group of 25 female inmates, referred to as students, who are selected from the non-violent prison population.

The students rotate to work 15 at a time, 9 hours a day, with weekends staffed on a volunteer basis. Those who are selected to participate are given the privilege of being the primary caregivers of two or three horses per student, and  of acquiring practical skills like grooming, feeding, mucking, daily care, riding, and doctoring, as well as learning a college curriculum with 22 written tests covering various aspects of horse care. When they graduate the women receive a certificate in equine care technology.

The students develop and maintain a close connection with their charges and the horses thrive under their care and individualized attention.

The women on the farm are remarkably confident and take an obvious and well-deserved pride in their depth of knowledge, responsibility, and hard work, and in
turn the horses learn to adjust to a more relaxed life away from the track. These women could have easily elected to while away their sentences within the prison walls, but instead they have taken the initiative to choose a path that ensures not only labor, sweat and commitment, but also confidence, hope and a chance at a future.

“I think that is why as inmates we bond so closely with these horses because we are both being given a second chance to start something new” explains Angela Cooper. Their stories, both horse and human, illustrate a personal evolution in which one is able to reclassify themselves in order to succeed

The most prominent theme among the student’s testimonials, however, is undoubtedly optimism, attained only through the hard work and education that are the roots of the program itself.

“The work is hard, hot and dirty” says Angela Cooper, but she is quick to add that the effort is absolutely worth it when she sees her horse resting comfortably in his paddock. And the work is indeed hard as the women are expected to perform every aspect of horse care as well as farm maintenance.

“It’s not always fun, our chores involve mucking stalls, haying, weed eating, feeding, and keeping everything in its place” says Sarah Hall, but along with the work “you learn patience and you learn to make the most of your time.”

“Prison is not easy, pretty, fun, or a great place for rehabilitation,” Erika Martin bluntly states in her evaluation of a life inside, but by being able to escape the everyday life in lockup, she is able to practice and further her skills every day.

Erika now plans to take what she has learned and apply it in her life after release. “The possibilities in the equine field are endless and I can’t explain how good it feels to know what I want to do with my life.”

This prospect of a successful future has become a reality for a number of the program’s graduates based on their unique ability to gain employment using the extensive and specialized knowledge they acquired working on the farm. Dawn Bieber, who graduated from the program in 2009, was offered an opportunity shortly after her release to work for Classic Bloodstock, LLC in Ocala where she remained employed for three years.

Prior to becoming part of the program at TRF, Dawn’s involvement with horses was minimal and went only as far as doing some combined training as a teenager. As a student in the program, she gained a great deal of invaluable
hands-on experience while assisting in the physical rehabilitation of the ex-race horses, helping them come back to form from injuries such as bowed tendons or bucked shins.

With the curriculum incorporating all aspects of equine care and farm maintenance, the women have the option of following their interests and focusing on a particular part of the trade. In doing so, they are able to prepare
themselves for a productive life outside when they are finished serving their time. The vocational training the women receive is essential to their success as it provides them with a means to support themselves in a world that might look down its nose at those with a troubled past.

Diane Garcia is the perfect example of someone who has taken the trade skills she gained in the program and transformed them into a successful career. Upon her release in May of 2011 after a seven year sentence, Diane quickly realized she was going to have to take the initiative if she was going to support herself.

Two weeks later she started her farrier business, Excellent Equine Care, located in Haines City, Florida. Diane initially began by going door to door looking for business, but within a year her reputation had flourished in the community and she started acquiring clients through word of mouth.

Having arrived at TRF as a Boston native with absolutely no horse experience, she admits she was initially timid on the farm. However, it did not take long for her to transform into a full-fledged horsewomen, and soon she was completely engrossed in her work. In particular, Diane had a fascination with feet. She started studying the hoof, observing the farrier, asking questions and devouring
books; she explains it by saying she became “absorbed by the whole medical aspect” of the farrier trade.

Thereafter, having been given the mental tools by the program and the physical tools of the trade by director Evans, Diane had the ability and confidence to strike out on her own.

“The biggest thing [the program] does is for the girls is self-confidence” she explained when asked what the most important take-away was for students.

She summed up her testimonial by saying that “girls in prison have made mistakes, followed the wrong people, went down the wrong path” but emphasized that it doesn’t make them bad people.

Like the thoroughbreds they care for, “the girls need a chance” she said, the emotion evident in her voice.

[Article edited for length. Click the link below to read it in its entirety.]

(The Florida Horse Magazine - August 2012)

More information:

• Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation (TRF)
• Second Chance Farm – Horse Programs, Florida Department of Corrections
• Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation and Prison Inmates

Ohio: Prison cat-fostering program in Ohio may help inmates more than their feline guests

OHIO -- The man nodded toward his prison cell and pointed at the three meowing kittens playing hide and seek behind his floppy pant leg and batting at his shoelaces.

"It’s their house, and they have the run of it," he said of the 8-by-10 room where he must spend his time. "We just get to sleep there."

Then he leaned down and, with two meaty hands, scooped up Max, a skinny 8-week-old orange tabby he is raising, and nuzzled him.

"You get to prison because you had an issue, but you don’t come in and instantly become a good person. Change takes time," he said. "These cats bring you closer to being good."

He is one of 10 prisoners sharing five cells on the second floor of the Washington D Building at Madison Correctional Institution who are a part of what’s simply and appropriately called "the foster-cat program." Fifteen more men who want to help are on a waiting list.

Through a partnership with the Humane Society of Madison County that is at least a decade old, the men bottle-feed and otherwise care for kittens brought to them because the cats either were rejected by their mothers or because they came to the humane society without one. They have taken in at least 50 this year.

They also foster grown cats — generally older or shy ones in need of socialization, and overweight ones that might benefit from exercise they can’t get when crated for much of the day at the shelter.

The goal is to care for the animals and train them (the men swear that if you have the time, and they do, you can train a cat), and prepare them for adoption. They keep journals that eventually will aid the new pet owners. They note each kitten’s personality and track things like which ones won’t bite if you rub their bellies and which ones prefer stuffed mice over little balls with jingle bells inside.

The men log how much each kitten eats, how much milk they drink and whether they prefer play or sleep.

"The guys are like overbearing mothers," Danielle King, the humane society’s assistant shelter manager, said with a laugh. "A kitten sneezes at 2 a.m. and they think it might be sick and call for help."

Betty Peyton, director of the humane society, said she can send as many as 30 cats and kittens to the prison at any one time, allowing the shelter to about double its capacity. But the manpower is really what helps the most.

"Bottle-feeding and caring for a litter of kittens is a 24/7 operation," she said. "To have these guys love them and take them in to get them ready for adoption helps us more than they even know."

Prisoners at the Ohio Reformatory for Women in Marysville can participate in a similar program, and Madison and the reformatory are two of several prisons in the state that run some sort of dog program.

But these men transform their cells into kitty playgrounds. Tall, handmade, cardboard gates allow the inmates to keep their steel cell doors open during the day but prevent the curious kittens from escaping. Litter boxes are tucked under the small, single sink, and the food and water dishes go wherever they fit.

And prisoners walk the cats on harnesses in the recreation yard during warm-weather months, and use carriers otherwise.

For the inmates, the kittens offer a respite from an otherwise lonely existence. This is no easy-time prison. Many of the men here are lifers: murderers and burglars, drug kingpins and rapists among them.

There are five kittens at the prison now — Max among them — and the crimes committed by the two men caring for them were so monstrous that Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction victims-services unit wouldn’t allow them to be identified for this story because it could offend the families of those they killed.

Max’s handler, Frank, is 42 and has been in prison almost 15 years. He has probably that many more to go.

He said fostering the kittens keeps him out of trouble inside the institution’s walls.

"I have no interest in the bad behaviors out there," Frank said of the prison yards and common areas outside of his cell. "My dad says he realizes the cats made me a better person, and that means a lot to me to hear him say that."

Men who want into the program are carefully screened, said Nicholas Emmons, the prison’s unit manager. He said he is surprised by how many show an interest because it is round-the-clock work and the pay — $19 a month — is pretty ordinary for what men can make at prison jobs.

But it is perhaps the emotional investment they are willing to make that surprises Emmons the most.
He said he has seen the cats and kittens do a lot of good by calming the unit and shaping behavior and allowing the men to feel as if they are somehow giving back.

He’s never had to kick an inmate out of the program, though some have asked to leave, and there’s never been a kitten intentionally hurt.

"We are the Department of Rehabilitation and Correction," he said. "Everyone wants to focus on the correction part, and punishment is necessary. But this is the rehabilitation part, and that’s important, too."

The cat handlers also can eventually earn an animal-trainer apprenticeship certificate, but that takes 4,000 hours.

Benjamin, a 48-year-old convicted murderer serving a life sentence, has only about 200 hours to go. He is fostering four kittens now. Among them is Cindy, a black-and-white social butterfly, and Gizmo, a gray ball of energy who would rather just be left alone.

He wraps extra towels around the bars on his cell windows and the bunk beds to convert them to scratching posts, and he buys the kittens tuna at the commissary as a treat.

"It’s like being a dad. They come in here as bottle babies and their whole life depends on you," Benjamin said. "It’s nice to be able be able to show kindness. There’s not a lot of that in here."

(Norwich Bulletin - Jan 18, 2016)

Pit bull attack puts bite on Maryland prison pet program

MARYLAND -- The state prison agency says it's no longer allowing inmates to raise rescued pets for adoption at a medium-security prison in Western Maryland after a pit bull attacked two inmates and a correctional officer.

The curtailment of the program at the Maryland Correctional Training Center does not affect other animal-centered programs within the Maryland Department of Public Safety and Correctional Services, including a program at the Western Correctional Institution in Cumberland where inmates train service dogs for disabled veterans, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.

Agency spokesman Robert Thomas told The Herald-Mail on Tuesday that the prison pet program at the 180-bed institution near Hagerstown has been discontinued until further notice.

The program allowed inmates to care for cats and dogs from area animal shelters. Proponents say it saved scores of animals from euthanasia since it began in July 2014.

But Thomas said the program was growing without guidelines, raising issues exemplified by the recent dog attack.

"We cannot just continue to take in dogs and cats. That's not the business of a correctional institution. There are significant limitations. I think somewhere along the line, that part has been overlooked. This is a correctional facility," Thomas told The Herald-Mail.

Warden Phil Morgan told The Herald-Mail in July that the program had had "a total calming effect" on the prison's inmate population.

The program saved 43 dogs and 16 cats from euthanasia in its first year, the newspaper reported. 

Jessica Stevenson, who helped manage the program, said the prison was housing 14 full-grown dogs and six puppies when a reporter visited in July.

She said the pets sometimes received obedience training but others just needed attention.

Thomas said many people have questioned the decision to end the program. But he said it couldn't continue without a clearer structure.

"The program seems to have morphed into a growing operation up there without the necessary guidelines and requirements," he told The Herald-Mail.

(Times news - Dec 30, 2015)

Rescued Cats Transform Inmates’ Lives With Love

INDIANA -- A new program at the Pendleton Correctional Facility is giving shelter cats a new home, while teaching offenders responsibility.

Within the walls of the Pendleton Correctional Facility, men walk in lines to the cafeteria or their recreation time. Locked gates close behind them.

But behind another gate is a different sight.

A dozen cats live inside an old office space.

  

 

Five carefully cleared offenders feed the cats, care for them and keep their space clean.

"I've had not a calm past, so, you know, it's helped me calm down a lot, grow up and it just feels good to be able to help,” said inmate Barry Matlock.

As with animal shelters across the country, the Animal Protection League in Anderson is constantly full of animals.

"This makes perfect sense because we have untapped man-power in the prison system, we might as well use it. So we can save these cats and the offenders get the benefits as well,” said Maleah Stringer, the Director of the Animal Protection League.

They say one of the goals here is to get the cats out of cages.

 

"I deserve to be in prison. I committed a crime, but these animals they live like we live in the cell house, in these cages, and they don't deserve that,” said inmate Lamar Hal.

The cats have a jungle gym, places to lounge and sleep.

"The cats are getting lots of interaction. A lot of them have come from bad situations, so it's helping them to be better with people,” said Kara McEntire of the Pendleton Correctional Facility.

For the offenders, who are in the maximum security prison for some serious crimes, the interaction with the animals provides positive moments in an otherwise tough reality.

"A love will change the characteristics of from anybody's tortured past, that goes for animals and humans really,” said Matlock.

“It instills a little bit of humanity back into me because I've been locked up for over seven years. These animals they help bring that back out,” said Hal.

"I've had offenders tell me that when they got an animal it was the first time that they can remember that they were allowing themselves to care about something, pretty powerful statement,” said Stringer.

A new partnership that's just getting started.

"Here I want to say three things to those people out there in the world, three things, adopt, help and donate, that's what these guys need,” said Hal.

(ABC57 - Apr 10, 2015)