Second chances

Nothing is as valuable as an opportunity, but perhaps nothing is as valued as a second chance. Where one often seems the result of fate or luck or timing, the other is more concrete cause and effect-failure followed by generosity and compassion. Coffeewood Correctional Center knows concrete, its walls and floors are hard and thick and everyone inside has taken a fall. Its walls and floors were also poured with the hope of second chances, that those inside could eventually rejoin society anew. Since 2009, a partnership between Coffeewood and the Orange County animal shelter has been manufacturing second chances-more adoptable, socialized dogs for the shelter and for the inmates a glimpse of the outside, the normalcy of life they had lost and are trying to earn back.
Buzz and Hank, a pug and lab mix, and a lab mix, slip and paw at the slick prison floor, their traction no match for the excitement of a new room. Once inside, Hank slinks to the floor, essentially crawling at the sight of strangers, whereas Buzz bounds around sniffing and inspecting. Without even a word, just the touch of a hand and the tug of a leash, both dogs, still uneasy about the new room, sit, statuesque, immovable for minutes at a time.
Veteran Coffeewood trainers and inmates Mike Woodward and Larry Martin spend every waking hour in the prison with Buzz and Hank, respectively, through the inmate's canine instruction program, where Coffeewood inmates train and socialize Orange County animal shelter dogs. Buzz, more boxer impersonator than pug, has been a resident of the prison for a weekend and already exudes the occasional confidence of a dog on the way back. Hank is slightly older and a bit more timid, but his tenure of three weeks shows more in his strict obedience than in his personality. Both dogs, though, are willing to give anyone with an open, outstretched hand a try in the form of a sniff and a lick.
The Coffeewood Canines program was born out of individual needs at both the shelter and the prison. Beth Hamilton, Orange County Animal Shelter director said that she and her staff were in dire need of trainers for some of the shelter's abused and disobedient cases. Coffeewood Assistant Warden Bobby Hickman, who initiated the program, said the prison needed a program to replace a Department of Homeland Security canine training program and a correctional department canine training program, both budget casualties.
"When both of those programs were abolished, I decided that we needed to continue a program at Coffeewood and in turn assist the community and local shelter," said Hickman.
Seven inmates are each paired with a dog from the shelter, though only six currently have a dog. Before training can begin, Woodward said that dogs must first become socialized and comfortable with their new surroundings.
"A lot of this can be overwhelming for the dogs," said Woodward. "We first work on socializing and observing the dog, figuring out its tics and traits. Once you can get the dog to take a drink of water or a bite of food from your hand, you know he's coming around and that you've bonded."
Once trust has been established the dogs learn a variety of commands, from the basic "sit," "stay," "heel," "come" and "down," to something as complex as sign language, said Hamilton.
"Some dogs are sent in with specific goals in mind, like they pull too hard on leash, and others face a lot of anxieties, such as being afraid of baseball caps," said Hamilton. "One border collie had lived outside and had become deaf. The handler was able to train her using hand signals and sign language and she was adopted out to a farm."
In fact every dog trained at Coffeewood, except one, has been successfully adopted out, said Hamilton, though she doesn't know the exact number. Woodward and Martin have trained 37 dogs between them, so combined with the other five inmate handlers, there are a significant number of happy homes. Hickman and the program's current coordinator, prison counselor Charles Seal, are both enthusiastic owners of Coffeewood dogs. Seal adopted the program's first graduate, a border collie named Levi and Hickman recently adopted a year-old boxer named Baxter. Woodward said that many prison guards and corrections officers have also adopted dogs, which, he said, often changes his mind about the individual.
"Sometimes you might think that one of the guards isn't such a good guy, but then you see the way they interact with the dogs and you see them differently," said Woodward. "Dogs are excellent judges of character and you begin to think, maybe that person isn't so bad after all."
But sooner or later, every dog will have its day and its time at Coffeewood is up. Woodward and Martin said that training usually takes around six weeks, but can often last up to several months, depending on the dog. Some dogs have already been adopted while still in the program, but Martin said that they won't be released until the inmates believe the dog is ready, which is often a very difficult day.
"After the first couple dogs are trained and leave, if you don't have a tear in your eye, there's something wrong with you," said Martin.
Woodward and Martin said that the dogs' training isn't performed in a bubble and that part of the experience is socializing the dog with the other inmates, a step they believe is as important for the inmate population as it is for the dogs.
"Even something as simple as the companionship of a dog lends a sense of normalcy to the place," said Woodward. "When we take the dogs on walks around the yard the other inmates are excited to see the dog and pet it."
Woodward said that during the four-month gap between the previous dog training program and the current one with Orange County, morale dropped considerably and inmates became more agitated, something that was cured within two weeks of the program's startup. Hickman agreed and believes that the value of the dogs to the prison cannot be overstated.
"The program is a real benefit to the facility as well as the staff and offenders. It helps the inmates focus on something other than themselves and gives the other inmates interaction with the dogs as well," said Hickman. "Having the animals at the facility is therapeutic for almost all offenders as well as the staff."
Another enthusiastic owner of a Coffeewood dog is Connie Koeppel of Gordsonville, who adopted her dog Roscoe, a border collie, in September of 2010. Roscoe, she said, was found during a petfinder.com search for a dog to fill the hole left by a previous dog. On the site she read about the dog's training at the prison and was immediately intrigued.
"He looked so gorgeous, brindle colored, just a magnificent animal," said Koeppel. "That these dogs languish in the shelter is insane; it's absolutely incredible to get a dog like this. There should be a waiting list for these dogs."
Roscoe, she said, was sent to Coffeewood because he was "overly rambunctious." Koeppel said that he remains energetic, but has control of his excitement.
"He's fun and playful, he can ratchet it up as far as you want to take it, but can also calm it down," she said. "They stress from the beginning that it's important to eat every dinner with the dog. During our first dinner he had his paws up on the chair wanting my food. I looked through the paperwork that came from the prison and read the list of commands he knew. I told him, 'Roscoe, down,' and he immediately got down and remained still during the entire meal."
Hickman said the program comes as no cost to the taxpayer or Orange County. The animal shelter covers the medical needs and care costs associated with the dogs and the inmates are paid the same standard rate as all other prison jobs.
"I consider this program to be a great success to this facility and to the public," said Hickman. "We see it as a way for the inmates to give back to the community."
Throughout the interview with Martin and Woodward, Hank and Buzz remain fixed to the floor, their heads occasionally looking around and up at their handlers, but their feet held and bound by a simple "sit." Upon the cue to leave, the dogs once again slip on the floor, anxious for the new, but trusting of the inmates. As they walk through the white brick hallway, flanked on both sides by guards and heavy doors, the handlers and their dogs appear distant from the prison itself. Hickman and Seals, Woodward and Martin all stress the simple energy brought by the dogs to the facility and as the inmates walk away, leash in hand, recovery and redemption for all seems possible.