Inmates in Florida who qualify to participate in a program that rehabilitates both them and the dogs while they search for their forever homes are beginning to see a ray of hope.
The program rehabilitates both the inmates in preparation for their release back into society and the dogs while they search for their forever homes.․․
The TAILS program, which stands for Teaching Animals and Inmates Life Skills and is recognized by the Florida Department of Corrections, focuses on partnering at-risk canines with institutionalized males in order to teach them life skills.
According to Jen Deane, executive director of TAILS and Pit Sisters, a Jacksonville-based group that rescues dogs in need from local shelters, at-risk dogs are defined as those that would have been killed or taken from dog-fighting, abusive, or hoarding circumstances, according to ABC News.
The program runs at a cost of around $80,000 each year and is totally sponsored by Pit Sisters and contributions.
In order to participate in the program, Deane said the canines must reside at the correctional facility full-time throughout their training. They sleep in kennels next to their trainers in dormitories that contain a number of convicts, she said.
“It’s incredible to be able to experience something like this.”
During a visit to the Putnam County Correctional Institution in Palatka, Florida, on January 10, Adam Goldberg, the main photographer for AGoldPhoto, a Tampa-based pet photography firm, was granted unparalleled access to inmates in their housing quarters.
Training typically takes place outside or in the visitor’s room, where Goldberg has previously photographed the dogs. However, the Florida Department of Corrections granted him special permission to spend time in the dorms, providing him with a “rare” glimpse into the restricted area where the dogs are cared for “around the clock,” according to the photographer.
The photographer has seen firsthand the good effects that the puppies have on the convicts, and he claims that the shift is nearly immediate when the pups arrive.
When he first arrives, the convicts are sometimes “scowling and certain that they don’t want to be there,” but this quickly changes when they get the opportunity to engage with the puppies.
“It’s an escape route while they’re training the dogs,” he said. Their smiles and interactions with the dogs that they are teaching are contagious.
One of the instructions Goldberg saw the dogs exercising was “count time,” in which the dogs were instructed to go to their kennels when the facility’s employees counted the number of prisoners in the institution’s facility.
When a dog lays two paws on an inmate’s arm, the instruction “pray” is given to him. They were also taught how to sit and lie down properly, according to Goldberg.
Even the prison staff members, some of whom have adopted puppies who have finished the program, we’re able to relax thanks to the dogs, according to Goldberg, who also observed the stress reduction the dogs provided.
During the picture session, what struck Goldberg the most was his close closeness to the convicts’ living circumstances — their mattresses, footlockers, and the fact that the inmates must sleep next to individual rolls of toilet paper, something that the majority of the general public “will never see.”
In order to engage in the program, inmates must first acquire permission to do so.
Both convicts and canines are subjected to a “very severe procedure,” according to Deane, who oversees the program. Inmates who have been charged with any violent or animal-related offenses are ineligible for the program, and they also cannot have had any behavioral difficulties while jailed․
Thus, participation in the program is effectively a reward for good conduct on the part of the inmate. The offenders are allowed to continue participating in the program and get a new puppy “fairly soon,” according to Deane, even when the canines graduate.
“We are very selective about who we let to engage with and teach the dogs,” Deane said.
Before being accepted into the program, the dogs are subjected to an evaluation by a canine aggressiveness and behavior specialist.
Deane said that each dog is allocated to two convicts who serve as both a handler and a trainer for the animal. They both spend about the same amount of time with the dog, although Deane notes that the trainer typically has more expertise than the handler.
According to Deane, the offenders spend many hours each day interacting with the dogs, which includes time spent playing outdoors and participating in several training sessions.
With the help of the Association of Professional Dog Trainers, the curriculum takes about two to three months to complete and provides inmates with valuable professional experience for their resumes.
The curriculum trains four to eleven dogs at a time and is internationally recognized by the Association of Professional Dog Trainers.
A total of six institutions around the state are now participating in the program, which also includes adolescents held by the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ).
The training is overseen by the personnel at each location.
There are currently no women’s institutions that provide the program, but Deane and her colleagues are in the process of establishing TAILS at a juvenile detention center for girls in North Florida, she said.
“We are well aware of the tremendous strength of the human-animal link.”
A large number of the offenders come from shattered homes and have never known unconditional love — that is, until they come into touch with a pup whose existence is dependent on their actions, according to Deane.
Because the dogs are generally from troubled or tragic backgrounds, the convicts are drawn to them on a personal level as well.
According to Deane, “They see themselves in the dogs.”
The beneficial behavioral impacts of prison animal programs (PAPs), according to Jennifer Wesely, a professor of criminology at the University of North Florida, may include increased empathy, emotional intelligence, communication, patience, self-control, and trust.
She is researching how the program can affect “criminogenic masculinity,” which is the idea that some marginalized men grow up in environments or cultures where they don’t have access to “mainstream ways to be a man” and “learn lessons through abuse, poverty, and social exclusion.”
Wesely is studying focus groups of inmates who have participated in the program.
She is investigating if the “strong” human-animal link might disrupt “criminogenic masculinity” features such as risk-taking, never backing down, and aggressive conduct, resulting in what is effectively an identity transformation for the individual involved in the study.
According to her, “a lot of these men were taught about masculinity at a young age.” “They were taught via very aggressive conduct that they could never exhibit signs of vulnerability again.
For the sake of their survival, they had to essentially shut off that component of their identity.”
Participants in the TAILS program, on the other hand, are “actually forced to develop deeper self-reflection” in order to properly interact with the dog, according to Wesely, who added that “it trickles down to the leash,” and convicts find how linked they are to the puppies.
Deane said that the program is not only meant to educate the guys on how to workout, but also to assist them in achieving their goals “assimilate back into the mainstream of society
” She went on to say that of the “hundreds and hundreds” of individuals she has talked to, their “number one worry” is how they will fit in when they are reintegrated into the community.
It teaches them empathy, patience, responsibility, and collaboration, and it also teaches them about love, she said, adding that she has seen the changes firsthand in the men participating in the program.
When Deane spoke with prisoners, several of them indicated that participation in the program was the “first time they had experienced unconditional love” and the “first time they had been able to care for someone other than themselves,” according to Deane.
Because the curriculum emphasizes positive reinforcement, Deane has heard from offenders who have children who have conveyed to her that the training has helped them become better dads.
The number of success tales is astronomically high.
When asked how many convicts she has seen success after finishing the program, Deane replied she could go on for hours. She also claimed she is continually preparing recommendation letters for previous inmates after they are released.․․
According to Deane, one convict who “excelled” in training decided he wanted to be a dog trainer when he was released, so TAILS provided him with a scholarship to pursue his certification.․․
When Deane relocated south to Palm Coast and found himself in need of work, he contacted the executive director of the Flagler Humane Society, who recruited him as a kennel technician for the organization.
According to Deane, the former convict was quickly elevated to the position of head of adoptions at the shelter and is now employed as a veterinary technician.
The coach praised his performance and noted that he is still engaged in the program today. “And it was via the dog program that he realized that’s what he wanted to pursue.”
In all, more than 500 dogs have graduated from the program and have been placed with families via Pit Sisters, Deane said. Other dogs are being fostered or kept in a commercial location that the group rents.
This was one of the program’s objectives, according to her statement. “We spend all of this time teaching them, and we want to make sure they aren’t just hanging around in a shelter,” says the trainer.
Mr. Crosby cited one specific success story in which a pit bull called Cuddles, who was found to be dangerous after being captured as part of a dog-fighting investigation in Canada, was found to be too dangerous to be put in a household by the authorities.
According to Crosby, all 21 canines captured from that setting were originally scheduled to be killed, but an animal advocacy organization intervened and obtained permission for Crosby to travel to the location to assess them.
Once he arrived, he judged that just two of the animals were “genuine human risks,” with the other animals having a chance for a second transformation.
“One of those dogs was Cuddles,” he recalled fondly.
As a result of her fighting ring experience, Cuddles required extensive rehabilitation before being accepted into the TAILS program, where she graduated with honors and obtained a Canine Good Citizen certificate. Crosby described Cuddles as “the epitome of what it means to be a fighting dog.”
Crosby said she is now working as an emotional support dog for a 73-year-old retired firefighter and veteran who lives in Cornwall, New Jersey, and that six of the other dogs who were once sentenced to death are now working with law enforcement agencies throughout Florida as bomb and drug detector dogs, among other things.
Dogs who were destined for slaughter are now saving lives, according to Mr. Sullivan.
And, as Deane pointed out, graduation is often an emotional moment.
It has brought tears to my eyes to witness these huge, burly men sobbing as their dogs graduate because they love them so much.”
In the month of February, there will be three sets of graduations. Later, Deane moves on to the next group of dogs, whom she works hard to make settled “as swiftly as possible.”
The author says, “I can’t think of any other creature who is as forgiving as a cat.”
As a retired lieutenant with the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office, Crosby is not only responsible for evaluating all of the dogs who participate in the program, but he is also called upon to assist law enforcement agencies all over the country in determining whether seized dogs are safe to be around humans.
Crosby is often called upon to testify in situations in which a dog kills a person, and he claims that he has only encountered a handful of dogs that he believes are a risk and cannot be rehabilitated in the past.
“When people do something nasty to dogs, it never shocks me,” he stated. “However, it is very, extremely unusual for dogs to murder a person.”
Dogs, according to Crosby, are “very forgiving of things that humans have done to them in the past,” he added. It is possible to rehab and teaches “even the most fearful or hostile dog” if one is willing to put in the effort to establish trust that “goes both ways.”
It is possible to do incredible, unexpected, and ultimately beneficial feats, according to him.
Crosby hailed his involvement with TAILS as an “amazing opportunity,” particularly in light of his previous law enforcement background. Given the fact that Crosby now spends time with convicts who aren’t necessarily aware of his prior job title, he has a different perspective on “what we can do for inmates.”
“I spent years just putting them in jail, putting them in prison for doing terrible things, but I never really thought about what would happen to them after that,” he added. “I spent years simply putting them in jail, throwing them in prison for doing evil things.”
“I simply figured that as soon as they came out of jail, I’d run into them somewhere. They’d do something, and I’d be the one to throw them back in jail.”
As a result of his observations, Crosby believes that the dogs, “particularly those from troubled backgrounds,” are able to interact with convicts and influence their conduct by instilling reciprocal trust, mutual care, compassion, and empathy.
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