Cats behind bars

Updated

Inside the walls of the high-security Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre, prisoners and foster cats help one another towards a positive future.

'A bit of normality'

In one unit, mother cat Lillian pads around the room while her four-week-old kittens, Ed Sheeran — named for his ginger fur — and Little Miss, nap.

In another unit, the slightly overweight Bumble rests on his cat bed, giving a wary glance to anyone who gets too close.

According to correctional supervisor Marilyn Cook, who oversees the cat foster program, Bumble is here to lose weight, and he is none too pleased about having been put on a diet.

Eight units at the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre at Wacol, in Brisbane's south-west, can accommodate foster cats — either two adult cats or one adult cat and up to three kittens.

It is thanks to Ms Cook that the program came to fruition in late 2010.

A foster carer outside of work, she says seeing the trouble the RSPCA had trying to find homes for the animals at their shelters sparked the idea.

Eight or more cats can come out of a shelter environment in cages and go into a foster home with a bed that they can sleep on, company, someone that can brush them and groom them and take care of them RSPCA programs assistant Jasmine Lebet

"I knew it would be great for the prisoners to be a part of the program and have somebody to come home to after they go to work, a bit of normality in their lives," she says.

"I kept pushing and pushing and pushing [prison management] and it took me six years to finally find a general manager who was willing to look at the concept."

Ms Cook says the majority of the cats fostered at the prison go on to be adopted, but some cats with ongoing medical problems, like current foster Missy, are long-term residents.

"She keeps pulling her hair out all the time and she has to get medication and we have to try and keep her calm," Ms Cook says.

"We have had a lot of long-term kittens with us here, especially if the RSPCA have got a court case against some people — it sometimes takes two years for the court case."

Offender development manager Martina Gavin says some cats have gone on to be adopted by prison staff, prisoners' families or even by prisoners themselves when they are discharged.

Programs assistant for the two prison foster programs — the RSPCA also co-ordinates a dog foster program at the nearby men's Arthur Gorrie Correctional Centre — and the Pets In Crisis program, Jasmine Lebet, says having eight prison units is like having eight extra foster homes.

"That means eight or more cats can come out of a shelter environment in cages and go into a foster home with a bed that they can sleep on, company, someone that can brush them and groom them and take care of them," she says.

"It is such a rewarding experience, for the prisoners and for us, to see how well they're doing.

"I've put some of the cats that have been so sick and haven't recovered out into the prison units and they're recovered really well, so they do such an amazing job out there."

'It's not cell doors closing'

There has been little research into prison animal programs, according to a 2013 review by Claire Mulcahy and Deirdre McLaughlin of the University of Queensland's School of Public Health, published in Australian Psychologist.

The authors of Is the Tail Wagging the Dog? A Review of the Evidence for Prison Animal Programs suggest: "More extensive research is needed to identify the program features that most commonly benefit prisoners, particularly prisoners with mental health needs."

However Lorana Bartels, Associate Professor at the University of Canberra's School of Law and Justice, says anecdotal evidence from foster programs overseas has demonstrated positive outcomes for prisoners.

Having them be a part of the program has brought them out of that and they've actually now progressed on to low security custody centres. It gives them somebody to come home to, it normalises their life a little bit more — it's not cell doors closing and all that. Correctional supervisor Marilyn Cook

"There's a bunch of benefits for all of us, whether on the outside or inside, when we get pets. There are physical health benefits ... [and] also mental health benefits," she says.

"If we bear in mind that the prisoners cohort, especially women, generally have pretty high physical needs, obviously any improvement there is going to be a good thing.

"We can all get those benefits but when we're talking about a population who are often in very poor physical and mental health, if it can benefit them in that way, that's obviously a win."

Ms Cook says that over the lifetime of the program, she has witnessed some prisoners come to terms with their mental health issues.

"Having them be a part of the program has brought them out of that and they've actually now progressed on to low-security custody centres," she said.

"It gives them somebody to come home to, it normalises their life a little bit more — it's not cell doors closing and all that."

Ms Cook says one participant, who has now moved to a low-security custody centre, is still involved in the cat foster program.

"What the RSPCA does is they give us all their sheets that are donated and we'll send them down to the low-security centre and she will turn them into crate covers," she says.

"So that's really good — she's progressed from here down to there and is still involved with the program."

'It's generally seen as a reward'

Associate Professor Bartels said the benefits of such a program could have multiple steps, beginning with the good behaviour required to enter the program.

"To stay in the program they need to continue to show good behaviour, and it can have still other effects where they're wanting to do other things as a result of participating in the program," she says.

"There was a US program ... they found that the prisoners were motivated to get into the program because it's generally seen as a reward, and then motivated by experiencing the program to get involved in other things, so enrolling in education programs or get jobs."

Some of these inmates, it's the third or fourth generation where nobody's had a job. They don't have a lived experience of, you get up in the morning, you get dressed and you go to work Associate Professor Lorana Bartels

Ms Cook says she has witnessed prisoners in the higher security area of the prison motivated to move into the lower security area, where the program operates.

"We find a lot of people that are insecure who want to be a part of the program, their behaviour gets better as time goes on, just so they can come over here and be a part of the program," she says.

Prisoners go through an extensive application and training process before being accepted into the program, and Ms Cook says they need to continue to show good behaviour to remain in the program.

"When a prisoner wants to apply to be in the program they have to send in an application form that comes in to me directly," Ms Cook says.

"I'll go through that application form and have a look at their case notes, check their behaviour, see if they've got any incidents or breaches on their history and check roughly when their discharge date is.

"The RSPCA will then do their checks and balances down there to make sure there are no litigations of animal cruelty against the person who is applying to be a part of the program.

"The general manager will have a final decision on whether they get to be a part of the program and then Martina's staff and my own will liaise with the RSPCA and they will come up and do a training package for those prisoners.

"Their case notes have to be really good and I'll check their case notes on a regular basis."

'Getting that structure to a day is really important'

Associate Professor Bartels says rehabilitation programs are important for correctional management, and that having animals inside may also benefit the whole facility.

"It can be pet programs, music programs, literacy and mental health ... having programs in prisons is really, really vital, in terms of alleviating that boredom and giving them a sense of there's something they need to do in the day," she says.

"It's also important for correctional management ... some of these inmates, it's the third or fourth generation where nobody's had a job.

"They don't have a lived experience of, you get up in the morning, you get dressed and you go to work ... that normal structure to a day is missing.

"Whether it's, OK, I've got my cognitive behavioural therapy at 10:00am and I will groom my dog at 12:00pm and then I have a yoga program at 3:00pm.

"It might sound trivial but just getting that structure to a day is really important for the individuals, and for the correctional system, to help them develop a normal functioning approach to one's day.

"Not just for those individual prisoners but for saying, look, it's calmer on the wings and there's a better environment as a by-product of that."

Ms Cook says the foster program at the Brisbane Women's Correctional Centre has gone from strength to strength.

"All of the staff have come on board, the prisoners have come on board, the management has come on board," she says.

"It's been really good for everyone, all around — staff, prisoners, RSPCA, the community — it's benefitting everyone."

Topics: prisons-and-punishment, law-crime-and-justice, human-interest, animals, brisbane-4000, wacol-4076

First posted