Cats cannot determine who has crimes. It is impossible for those cats to recognize the ink on the skin of a person whose crime cannot be measured. Thus, cats cannot distinguish between a casual outfit and inmate uniform. That’s what a cat absorbs their eyes in front of Indiana prisoners. Based on those reasons, in 2015, Animal Protection League and Pendleton Correctional Facility in Indiana started a program called F.O.R.W.A.R.D. to heal the antisocial cats in the shelters and the prisoners who had a locked kind heart.
More info: Facebook | purrfectpals.org (h/t: catsoncatnip)
In 2015 Animal Protection League and Pendleton Correctional Facility in Indiana started a program called F.O.R.W.A.R.D.
The biggest intention of this program was to move out the cute cats from the shelter and place them in the correctional homes so that they are well taken care of by the inmates. Due to being mistreated and abandoned, kitties in the shelter were doubtful about human’s affection. But after a while for being cuddly held in prisoners’ arms, they regained trust. In reverse, convicted prisoners who were also allow to give themselves a second chance to be kind, more open, and have another tendency to deal with the problem without violence.
“I’ve had offenders tell me when they got an animal, it was the first time they can remember they were allowing themselves to care about something, to love something,” said the director of APL, Maleah Stringer.
The concept behind the program was to take cats from a shelter and allow inmates of the correctional facility to take care of them
This ideal program was the background for so many other prisons to apply to better the community, gives inmates an undirected way to forgive their criminal pasts. MCKC program had the same result:
“The MCKC Program has reduced offender idleness, taught offenders about responsibility and increased their self-esteem. Since the program’s inception, offenders have been motivated to enroll in school, obtain jobs, obey unit rules and improve their hygiene so that they may become MCKC participants. The presence of animals on E Unit has added a new calmness to E Unit’s therapeutic milieu and strengthened its community spirit,” Purrfect Pals wrote on their website.
Many of the cats who were in the shelter had become antisocial due to mistreatment
This program helps them regain trust in people thus making it easier to find them a home
But after a while for being cuddly held in prisoners’ arms, they regained trust.
This program also allows inmates to learn how to care for another living creature
This program has been so successful that other similar programs have popped up all over the United States
