Inmates and Veterans Heal With Puppy Love

At the Fishkill Correctional Facility in upstate New York, more than 1,600 men convicted of abuse, robbery and murder are serving their time. "I've been incarcerated for robbery in the first degree," an inmate named Michael says. "I really had no regards for other people. It was always me, me, me, me."

Now, a groundbreaking program called Puppies Behind Bars is transforming these offenders. Inmates are given 8-week-old puppies and taught to train them to become service dogs for the disabled, including wounded soldiers. The puppies and prisoners are together 24 hours a day. The puppies sleep in crates in the inmates' cells.

In return, the puppies give the prisoners something many of them have never experienced before—unconditional love. "I'm going to make my family and those around me proud of me again. Joining this program, it helped me to give myself a sense of pride again. To know that by nurturing and raising these dogs to their fullest potential, that I could give back."

Dr. Thomas Lane, a veterinarian in Florida, thought that prison inmates would make excellent puppy raisers, and started the first guide-dog/prison program. Not only do inmates have unlimited time to spend with the puppies, but they benefit from the responsibility of being puppy raisers in ways that are especially important to their rehabilitation: they learn patience, what it is like to be completely responsible for a living being, how to give and receive unconditional love, and -- since puppy raisers take classes and train the dogs together -- how to work as a team.

Perhaps the greatest legacy of Puppies Behind Bars is the lesson of love each inmate learns. Jesse, another prisoner at the Fishkill Correctional Facility, is currently training Joy, his third dog. "She brought forth in me the ability to love again. It had been so dormant in me for so long because of the cold place that I'm in," he says. "I didn't know that I could love again, and we all get to see how greatly these dogs affect the lives of the people that they touch."