PawPADs offers our “Prison Road Puppies” program to qualifying correctional facilities in Minnesota.
Through former partnerships with the Federal Bureau of Prisons at the Federal Correctional Institution in Sandstone, MN (FCI Sandstone) and the Federal Prison Camp in Duluth, MN (FPC Duluth), PawPADs accrued an in-depth portfolio of experience in the field of service dog training in correctional facility settings and restorative justice. The in-house programs in Duluth and Sandstone were in place from April 2011 through May 2014 and were highly successful in every measurable aspect. Inmates who participated in the program had the opportunity to pay something back to society and their communities; to give rather than take.
Dogs trained in this program have been placed as highly successful assistance dogs for wounded warriors and other persons with physical disabilities, diabetic alert, and autism support dogs.
Inmates in the program learn to train and care for the service dogs in-training who lived with them. The inmates developed life skills such as emotional and social competence, leadership and communication skills, work ethic, increased levels of responsibility, empathy, and emotional regulation. In some cases, this was the first time in their lives they’d had this opportunity.