In Ohio, across multiple state correctional facilities, inmates are rehabilitating themselves by rehabilitating others: specifically the most fragile and vulnerable of others: injured or orphaned animals.

Tiny birds—victims of a fall from the nest, baby rabbits orphaned by the wheels of a Ford, or little opossums lost when their mother took off at the first sign of danger—they all need a helping hand and careful attention if they’re going to make it back to the woods or the fields.

At Marion and Richland Correctional Institutions, and the Ohio Reformatory for Women, the Ohio Wildlife Center trains interested inmates on how to feed and care for wounded or abandoned wild animals.

Housed in special aviaries or even inside cages within prisoners’ cells, it gives them someone to care for, and in doing so, perhaps it helps them care for themselves.

Between January and June at Marion, 284 animals were brought in for care, and Scott Fuqua a correctional officer and the program coordinator, says wants that to be 1,000 by years end; such is the impact it has had for the facility.

“The effect that this program has on the offenders here is quite remarkable,” Fuqua told Smithsonian‘s Olivia Young. “The men who participate in this program get a chance to care for something other than themselves, and you can see the changes in their behavior. They tend to stay out of trouble, away from substance abuse, and have an increased interest to learn more about the animals they care for.”

That might include even someone like Tierre M., who is well into his third decade of a potential life-sentence for murder. Tierre knows how to care for dozens of different species and situations.

“Some of these birds coming in, it crushes you to see them,” he told Young, who visited the Marion Correctional Institute’s makeshift wildlife rehabilitation center. “Then, to see [one] getting stronger and the strength coming back in it, the life coming back in it, it’s awesome.”

He was one of the first men who began the program after it started over 25 years ago, when the Ohio Wildlife Center, based in Columbus under the direction of its late founder, began expanding the wildlife treatment and rehab volunteer centers into the state’s criminal justice facilities.

Its first stop was more believable, perhaps, than a medium or maximum security prison. In 1994, some of those incarcerated at the Ohio Reformatory for Women began receiving training for how to care for wildlife, and have since helped rehabilitate thousands of orphaned animals under the guidance of the Ohio Wildlife Center.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Prisons Across the World Are Shaving Days Off Sentences for Every Book Read by Their Inmates

“It is important to our women that their time spent with us is transformative, and that it truly does help rehabilitate them,” said Clara Golden-Kent, public information officer for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction. “That is the beauty of this program– the animals and the inmates are both being rehabilitated.”

“I grew up with animals, and animals have always been a part of my life,” inmate Amanda Sawyer said in 2019. “The program helps us and it helps the animals, so I really look forward to it.”

The Ohio Wildlife Center’s hospital treated some 9,000 animals from almost 200 species throughout the year so far, and many of them will require additional rehab before a release. This work is handled by volunteers, 70% of that is done in the prisons.

MORE CORRECTIONAL PROGRAMS TO TALK ABOUT: Formerly-Incarcerated Artisans Craft Tables Designed by Women in Prison, to Benefit Them When They Get Out

Over 60 inmates at 5 state correctional institutions have so far participated in the project, 52 of them at Marion, the only facility to take birds. These men suddenly have something to protect: their right to continue to see the injured animals and helping them. For one of the project’s bannermen, “Willie,” bad behavior would not only mean losing the access to the program, but losing his pet cockatiel, who joins him on his morning feeding routines.

SHARE This Inspiring Path To Redemption With Your Friends On Social Media…