indiana prison allows inmates keep cats as pets

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

http://omginformation.blogspot.ca/2012/03/indiana-state-prison-lets-murderers.html

pretty interesting story. reminded me of the sopranos when melfi was talking to somebody else about how psycopaths can hate people but still love babies/small animals

i doubt the cats mind and it seems to make everyone else involved pretty happy too, wonder if we'll see more prisons try something like this.

Whispered

I saw a programme a while back where a prison in America somewhere allows inmates take in pound dogs, socialise them, rehome them and start again with another dog.

I thought it was a fantastic idea. Giving the dogs a second chance and giving the inmates a sense of responsibility for something.

http://www.coyotecommunications.com/dogs/prisondogs.html

"She likes to play now. She didn't want to play. She really didn't want to be petted when she first got here, like she'd been abused. Now everyone that passes her she thinks is supposed to pet her," says inmate Robert Smith, Dixie's handler. "She's helped me a lot because she helped me find the man that I was before I came to prison and I like the person that I found."

meoklmrk91

I think it's a great idea as long as the inmates are seriously vetted before being given a defenceless animal to look after. I would also worry about other inmates hurting the cat in order to hurt the inmate caring for it. As long as no animals get hurt then I think it's a wonderful idea.

Lawrence1895

I know from Germany, especially young offenders do community work in the local animal shelter. It works out fine in most cases.

R P McMurphy

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I think it's a great idea as long as the inmates are seriously vetted before being given a defenceless animal to look after. I would also worry about other inmates hurting the cat in order to hurt the inmate caring for it. As long as no animals get hurt then I think it's a wonderful idea.

I think tha t very issue was in an episode of oz

planetX

poor cats living in cells - they did nothing wrong.

Chuck Stone

meoklmrk91 wrote: »

I think it's a great idea as long as the inmates are seriously vetted before being given a defenceless animal to look after. I would also worry about other inmates hurting the cat in order to hurt the inmate caring for it. As long as no animals get hurt then I think it's a wonderful idea.

Kris St. Martin, a corrections officer, tells me, “There was a guy here whose cat was killed a couple of years ago. The guys on the floor put out a contract on that cat killer. No one was ever able to figure out who had done it, but if they had, well, as I said, there was a contract on him…Mostly these guys are really protective of the cats and they all benefit from their presence. A cat will visit with the offenders in their neighboring cells, and it means a lot to all of them. Occasionally, we get someone who has issues with cats, so we move them out to another building.”

I think that these cats might be some of the most protected cats in the world.

planetX wrote: »

poor cats living in cells - they did nothing wrong.

They have more freedom that a cat kept in an apartment/house.

planetX

Chuck Stone wrote: »

They have more freedom that a cat kept in an apartment/house.

He and his cellmate, Tom (who also has a cat, Booger) had to ‘kitten-proof’ their cell. They took down the cat tree that they had constructed for Booger and the previous cat, concerned that the very energetic and inquisitive kitten might injure himself on it. They also built a makeshift ‘cage’ for Ziggy to keep him safe when Tom and Bear have to be away from the cell.

It's not a good life for the cats, let them keep goldfish - these people are in prison for a reason, how do they pay for the food and vet treatment?

Chuck Stone

planetX wrote: »

It's not a good life for the cats

The cats are well cared for and safe. Why is it not a good life for them?

let them keep goldfish - these people are in prison for a reason

The cats calm them and give them something to care about. The cats seem to well happy too. Cats are not demanding creatures.

how do they pay for the food and vet treatment?

The prisoners work. It costs the tax-payer nothing. If anything it would probably be a net gain for the taxpayer that the prisoners need less management.

snausages

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar wrote: »

http://omginformation.blogspot.ca/2012/03/indiana-state-prison-lets-murderers.html

pretty interesting story. reminded me of the sopranos when melfi was talking to somebody else about how psycopaths can hate people but still love babies/small animals

That was sociopaths, of which Tony was a good example. No empathy towards other people and the troubles they might have yet when a horse gets destroyed sh!t gets nasty.

Psychopaths I think are the types who are inclined to hurt small animals from an early age. Although all of the above is just stuff "learned" from American TV so I don't have a clue tbh.

brrabus

Chuck Stone wrote: »

Cats are not demanding creatures.

You haven't met my two, one in particular is sooo demanding.

I think it is a great idea what they are doing over there.

Odysseus

It seems like a great project to me, certainly better than some of the other so called 2rehabilitation projects" that have been undertake in the States.


Edit: I can't believe people would object to this!!!

charlemont

I used to feed the pigeons from my cell window in Limerick.

Benny_Cake

I read the thread title and was immediately reminded of Westmoreland in Prison Break

Seriously, great idea though.