Programs housed in correctional facilities that provide care and training for dogs have been in existence in the United States since the 1980s. More recently, directors of these programs have incorporated forms of recognition to document the expertise that inmates acquire through participation. This chapter begins with insights from the research literature on the mass incarceration issue in the United States, approaching it from the perspective that the incarcerated and those under some sort of court supervision represent a huge population of potential postsecondary students. Next, the chapter explores both the promise and the barriers to delivering programs that yield tangible markers of success—certification, licensure, and credentials of various types. The chapter then examines specific routes to verifying success with dog care and training. Some of these strategies include: earning the AKC Canine Good Citizen certificate or passing a therapy or service dog test, gaining approval from the Department of Labor for the program to qualify as an internship for licensure, partnering with a professional organization, collaborating with a vocational school or postsecondary institution to award a certificate to inmates, and reducing the time remaining on sentences for exemplary work. The chapter concludes with the assertion that the “next generation” of educational programs will require partnerships with postsecondary institutions and community members so that dog care and training experiences in correctional facilities become more effective intervention in terms of supporting rehabilitation, desistance, and re-entry. © Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2019.
Author Keywords
Index Keywords
