Inmates form positive partnerships with dogs

Residents in and around Kingman, Arizona are discovering a nearby place where they can find some of the best-trained dogs in their area.  It’s a place where the trainers work one-on-one with their animals nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week.  This unusual dog training site is the MTC-operated Arizona State Prison-Kingman.

Prison officials collaborated with the Mohave Companion Animal Rescue Efforts Network about a year ago to partner inmates with unwanted dogs local organizations had rescued.  

It is a special privilege for those inmates picked for the dog training program.  They must fill out an application and place their name at the bottom of a long waiting list.  Only 10 inmates are chosen for the program.  They live in two special “pods,” or small rooms, separated from the facility’s other inmates.

The dogs are collected from northwestern Arizona animal shelters and rescue agencies. Some of them are rescued from animal shelters just before they are slated to be euthanized.

The dogs are evaluated for the program, spayed or neutered, vaccinated and receive all their shots and any other medical attention necessary before being transported to the prison.

Each dog is paired with two inmates, who feed, walk, clean up after and train them for about six weeks. The only time the dogs and the inmates are separated is when the inmates go to eat or if an inmate has to go to the infirmary.


(Posted 07/20/09)

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