A prison is the last place you might expect to hear a bark, but in three Texas correctional facilities, you’ll regularly hear barks, commands and the pitter-patter of paws.
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice partnered with Patriot Paws, a nonprofit that pairs disabled veterans with service dogs. Before the dogs are paired with a vet, incarcerated individuals train them to learn basic service animal skills.
The pairing between Patriot Paws and prisons is mutually beneficial. The trainers learn valuable life lessons and gain skills that can lead to career opportunities post-release, and the dogs learn how to care for a vet.
Since starting the partnership in 2008, Patriot Paws has hired two formerly-incarcerated dog trainers.
Meet one of the trainers and learn how you can get involved with Patriot Paws in the video above.
More: People in Prisons Are Learning to Code — and It Might Alter the Course of Their Lives
Tag: inmates
This Former Inmate Fights for Others’ Freedom from Life Sentences
Jason Hernandez never thought he would see the outside world again.
Since 1998, he had been serving a life sentence in federal prison for selling crack cocaine in his native McKinney, Texas. It was his first criminal offense, but due to the Drug Act of 1986 and the mandatory minimum sentences it required, Hernandez found himself locked up at the age of 21. Then, in 2013, his prayers and petitions were answered: He was granted clemency by President Obama.
Watch the video above and see how Hernandez uses Crack Open the Door, his sentencing advocacy nonprofit, to spotlight and fight for the release of other first-time nonviolent drug offenders serving life without parole.
MORE: Criminal Justice Reform Is Imminent. Here’s Why
For These Inmates, Class Is in Session
At California’s San Quentin Prison, inmates are intensely concentrating on the project at hand: learning the vast world of computer coding and programming.
That’s right, prison inmates now have the opportunity to learn computer skills and develop a business model that can be used upon their release. According to Fast Co. Exist, inmates are enrolled in Code 7370 for six months, a class brought to San Quentin by the nonprofit The Last Mile that teaches inmates about the world of business and entrepreneurship. The class is very selective, with only 18 of 100 applicants accepted.
Class meets four days a week, for eight hours each day, and during that time, inmates learn the ins-and-outs of Javascript, CSS and HTML. Their three instructors are from the San Francisco boot camp Hack Reactor and teach in-person or virtual lessons twice a week. For the other two days each week, the inmates practice their skills under the watch of Jonathon Gripshover of the California Prison Industry Authority.
The computer lab at the prison is stocked with refurbished computers, which used to belong to state employees and are now being used by the student inmates. However, none of the inmates have Internet access, so all of their work is completed in a custom off-line coding environment.
The most startling aspect of the program, perhaps, is that none of the participants have coding experience and many have never even used a computer before.
Jason Jones is one such example. Even though he has never used a smartphone and only used the internet for browsing, he has the plans for an app called In Touch that would instantly upload a student’s test scores and other information for parents to review in order to be more invested in their child’s education.
Once released, job opportunities for former inmates are very limited, but the hope is that through this training, employers will be open to hiring them.
For Aly Tamboura, Code 7370 gives him something he never had before: a marketable skill that makes him attractive to employers.
“I get these a-ha moments where a concept or certain element of what we’re learning makes sense,” Tamboura tells Fast Co. Exist. “When I get out, I’ll have a marketable skill.”
And that’s the greatest benefit of the program — a chance for a better life.
MORE: How A New York Program is Reframing Prison Education
Does Reducing Jail Sentences Take a Bite Out of Crime?
“We cannot prosecute our way to becoming a safer nation.”
That’s the guiding principle behind Attorney General Eric Holder’s “Smart on Crime” initiative, which he launched last spring. This week, he made impressive strides toward making good on that statement, as well as the plan’s promise to enforce fair punishments as well as ensuring safety.
Meet the Venture Capitalist Who’s Investing in Redemption
Christopher Redlitz spends his life turning other people’s dreams into realities. Now Redlitz, a venture capitalist and cofounder of Transmedia Capital in San Francisco, is focusing his skills on helping a group that rarely gets a second chance: prison inmates. Through his nonprofit, The Last Mile, Redlitz and his partners select groups of qualified men and provide them with training in technology and entrepreneurship. Through six months of classes, participants learn everything from how to use social media to forming businesses and more, leading up to their very own Demo Day, where they present their business ideas to a select audience. The hope is that, upon their release, the men will have the confidence and skills to work in a paid internship program within the Silicon Valley technology sector, where they can gain real-life experience to aid in the transition from inmate to citizen. The program is already a success at San Quentin State Prison, and now it’s being implemented in an L.A. county jail, with others soon to follow.
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