By C1 Staff
SAN ANTONIO — Inmates at the Travis County Jail are raising puppies through a prison program that officials say has a huge effect on recidivism.
The PAWSitive Approach program has helped more than 100 Texas inmates since it started in 2000, according to KSAT. The puppies eventually go on to become guide dogs for the blind.
Officials say that only one percent of inmates who participate in the dog program re-offend, versus the 75 percent of inmates who don’t participate in the program.
“They’re people. Even though they have bad pasts and gone down the wrong road, if they’re just left there, that’s all they’re going to be,” Dominguez State Jail Warden Steven Clayton said. “This kind of makes that bridge to bring them back to normal society.”
Inmates teach puppies basic skills like obedience, house training and sociability.