This paper demonstrates the benefits of animal rehabilitation programs in alleviating the mental harm of incarceration and improving outcomes for individuals upon their release. I.H.C. details the overwhelming mental health crises and conditions that inmates face in prison, arguing to redefine rehabilitation to center both practical preparations and on healing the underlying traumas and mental health concerns before release. His numerous examples drawn from prisons around the world thoroughly uphold the evidence that animal rehabilitation programs improve inmate wellbeing, decrease violent incidents in prison, enhance vocational and employment opportunities post-incarceration, and overall change inmates’ behavior – all benefits that ultimately reduce recidivism as well. I.H.C. concludes that “an effort of this magnitude” in implementing widespread inmate-animal rehabilitation programs “would be difficult,” but that “beauty and a certain type of freedom can be found on the other side of pain…if only we muster the courage to try.”
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