By Jon Karroll

j.karroll@krdo.com

CANON CITY – There’s an amazing transformation going on inside some Colorado prison walls.  Inmates are learning how to take on some new responsibilities and do an honest day’s work, and they’re doing it with the help of man’s best friend.

    The Prison Trained K-9 Companion program started in 2002 with five dogs at the nearby Women’s prison.  There are now 140-handlers at nine facilities statewide.  5,000 dogs have passed through the program, some going to people with special needs.  Many of the dogs come from shelters around the state.  They also have a boarding-in option for private owners that raises money to support the program.  The K-9 Companion program is part of Correctional Industries, the cash-funded division of the Department of Corrections.  “Every inmate that works for Correctional Industries saves the taxpayer $5,000” says Steve Smith, Director of Correctional Industries.

     Putting inmates to work gives them an opportunity to earn some money and new job skills.  “I’d like to train dogs and am also going to try and get a job at an animal shelter or be involved, even as a volunteer, with rescuing animals” says inmate/trainer Billy Scott.  Inmate/trainer Terence Shelton adds “it makes you feel real good, feels like, you know, you really accomplish something that you thought you would never be doing before.”

   The K-9 Companion program typically runs from four to twelve weeks, and the dogs and inmates are together 24/7.  Debi Stevens is the director of the program.  “It takes the prison out of the cell if you want to say that, and it makes it a room… they have a companion there.”

   To learn more about the K-9 Companion program or any of the Correctional Industries programs, click here.