Cats are fascinating creatures. They have been receiving a significant amount of attention here on the internet for more than a decade, and as the years have progressed, they have also been receiving an increasing amount of attention in the real world.
The therapeutic advantages that come from spending time with cats might be one explanation for this phenomenon. Over the course of the last five years, several cat cafés have opened their doors all over the globe.
One possible explanation for this is that being around cats makes people feel happier. Inmate morale improved significantly at a prison in Indiana that had adopted cats from an animal shelter after seeing a pattern of comparable behavior at other facilities that had done the same thing.
F.O.R.W.A.R. is an initiative that was launched in 2015 by the Animal Protection League and the Pendleton Correctional Facility in the state of Indiana.
The program’s goal was to give convicts at the correctional institution responsible for the care of cats that had previously been housed at a shelter. Everyone who participated benefited from the outcome of this endeavor.
As a result of being mistreated, many of the cats who were housed at the shelter had developed antisocial tendencies.
Because of this, it is difficult for them to find adoptive families. Because of this approach, they are able to rebuild their faith in humanity, making it much simpler to locate a suitable living situation for them.
As the convicts clean, groom, and feed the cats, the kitties develop a greater level of confidence in humans.
Inmates are given the opportunity to learn how to properly care for another live being via this program.
According to Maleah Stringer, head of the Animal Protection League (APL), “I’ve had offenders tell me that when they acquired an animal, it was the first time they can remember letting themselves to care about anything, to love something.”
The American Pet League claims on its website that adopting a pet “teaches them responsibility, how to communicate in a group using non-violent means to solve conflicts, and provides them the unconditional love of a pet,” which is something that many of these convicts have never experienced.
Because of the overwhelming success of this program, several other organizations in the United States have begun implementing initiatives that are very similar to it.
The MCKC Program has been successful in reducing offenders’ time spent loitering, teaching offenders about responsibility, and raising offenders’ self-esteem. Since the beginning of the program, offenders have been encouraged to sign up for classes, find employment, respect the laws of the facility, and improve their personal cleanliness in order to become participants in the MCKC. Purrfect Pals claims on their website that the introduction of animals into the therapeutic environment of E Unit has “brought a new tranquility to E Unit’s therapeutic milieu and reinforced its community spirit.”