KERSHAW — Every Monday morning, the gates of the Kershaw Correctional Institution are opened for a special set of visitors.
Each week, four Labrador retriever puppies enter the facility to work with the inmates.
“We can’t wait. If we had our way about it, we’d have them seven days a week, weekend and all during the week, if we had our way about it,” said Keith, an inmate at the medium-security facility. “We love them and we love training with them.” Prison rules prohibit identifying Keith by his full name.
He’s participating in a program sponsored by Palmetto Animal Assisted Life Services, or PAALS, a group that trains dogs to help people with physical disabilities.
PAALS founder Jennifer Rogers said working with the inmates has its advantages.
“Most of our people that train the dogs are volunteers, but like a lot of people, especially with all the economic challenges our society is having, have to work full-time, so they don’t have the kind of time that our inmates here have,” she said.
Rogers said inmates spend a few hours each day teaching the dogs hand and voice commands.
The dogs also learn to turn on light switches, open and close doors and pick up items, such as pens and cell phones.
Prison officials said the dogs are helping to teach the inmates patience and responsibility, and the inmates said they find the work to be very rewarding.
“It’s one of the best feelings you can have, because like I say you know you’re helping somebody else, somebody that really needs help that’s not able to help their self,” Keith said.
The dogs live and train with inmates during the week and spend the weekends living with foster families.
Rogers said many people are surprised to learn inmates are training the service dogs.
“There are people that are waiting for dogs from our program that actually have said to me, ‘I really hope mine comes from the prison program,’” she said. “I think they understand that these dogs are changing lives long before they ever get to them and that’s really what our program is about.”
Rogers said she thinks the program has been very successful.
Next month, the dogs will graduate to a more advanced training program. Next year, PAALS will introduce a new set of puppies to be trained by the Kershaw inmates.
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