ROSWELL, N.M. – A group is assisting some prisoners and dogs in the Roswell Correctional Facility provide both dogs and prisoners a 2nd possibility.
“We send between seven and nine dogs every eight weeks. They have a trainer that works with the inmates, the inmates are pre-approved through the prison,” said Stephanie Campbell, director and creator of The Big Mutt Network.
Campbell says they collaborate with the Roswell Correctional Facility to produce the Uncaged Paws jail program.
Inmates learn how to train dogs and how to get ready for life beyond jail. But it’s not simply providing the prisoners some hope, the dogs too get a 2nd possibility as they come off the euthanasia list from regional shelters
“In fact, two of them were taken from the Roswell Animal Control on their final day, because they would have been euthanized, and we were able to with the help of the staff there. We were able to get them into our program,” said Rebecca Porte, an Uncaged Paws volunteer.
Porte says the objective was to save dogs from the high euthanization list however wound up providing prisoners a 2nd possibility.
“All of the benefits that are garnered by the dog, we’ve discovered really benefit the inmates as well – gives them a sense of responsibility and just of self-confidence,” said Porte.
“The inmates take this program really seriously, it gives them a sense of pride,” said Brittany Roembach, a representative for the New Mexico Corrections Department.
The prisoners aren’t just training the dogs, they’re likewise finding out life abilities.
“I think it opens some, definitely some compassion, some responsibility for another living being. And you really have to watch your temper, you have to watch your behavior, because dogs feed off of that,” Porte said.
Roembach says they wish to continue this program in the future.
“It’s a great program and anyone who has a dog knows the power of dogs, and that is certainly true for these inmates,” said Roembach.
