Dogs headed to prison for a new lease on life

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Indy Star

By Ruth Holladay

They arrived in Anderson on Wednesday, dog-tired after 20 hours on the road from Miami. Their first stop was a clinic, where they got the works: baths, grooming and toenail-trimming.


Today, four Indiana prisons will swing open their gates and take them in -- 12 skinny, socially challenged canines. For the next eight to 10 weeks, they'll be behind bars.
Don't feel sorry for them. These are darn lucky dogs.
They are retired greyhounds, lean and not exactly fresh from the fast track in Florida. They are moving into four Hoosier correctional facilities in a bid to escape death, having run their course on the racetrack.
As such, they are new recruits in "Second Chance at Life: Inmates & Greyhounds," begun six years ago by Beverly Sebastian of Florida and now in prisons in six states. Inmates train dogs, who then are adopted out of prison.
Sebastian was sick of 18,000 to 20,000 greyhounds being killed yearly in her state alone, she said. Greyhound racing is a longtime legal sport there.
Maleah Stringer, Anderson, who rescued a greyhound named Bella, is working with Sebastian. She is bolstered by the backing of the Indiana Department of Correction and especially Commissioner J. David Donahue, a firm believer in pet therapy.
Why, Donahue even granted amnesty to cats residing on Death Row in Michigan City, one of the state's toughest prisons. For years, some inmates there had cats in cells (the result of one pregnant cat who wandered onto the grounds). The prisoners paid for food and litter. The program was due to end after all the felines died off -- but Donahue, when he took over in 2005, not only gave it a new lease on life, he expanded it, adding more cats. So of course he's got to do for the dogs.
The greyhounds will be given TLC and training in obedience. Each dog will be cared for 24/7 by two inmate volunteers. Food and supplies will be donated by Sebastian's umbrella organization, the National Greyhound Foundation.
The inmates will get something, too. " A lot of men and women who come into corrections have not had the experience of caring for an animal," Donahue said. "You learn certain skills from working with animals -- patience and tolerance."
Those skills, he said, serve an ex-offender well on the outside. Ninety-seven percent of Indiana inmates will get out of prison, he said -- 16,000 will be released this year.
Greyhounds have their own issues, Stringer said. As racing dogs, they are treated like livestock, kenneled up to 22 hours a day. "They don't know how to do normal dog things" -- especially sad, since greyhounds are docile, smart and loving.
Sebastian started her program after visiting a juvenile center with a greyhound that had been abused. She became a convert and a matchmaker. "The meanest boy there ended up with the dog curled on his lap."