Canine CellMates Program Gives Incarcerated Men and Shelter Dogs 2nd Chance

Canine CellMates is a rehabilitative program, designed to help rehabilitate incarcerated men using shelter dogs. Since 2013, the nonprofit has invited inmates at Fulton County Jail to learn to train shelter dogs for adoption in a 10-week program. The dogs get 24/7 socialization and training from the men in a special dormitory for trainers, who can learn valuable life skills as well.

Last year the nonprofit created the Beyond the Bars program: a sentencing alternative that keeps men out of jail. Instead of being incarcerated or proceeding further through the legal system, participants commit to training shelter dogs for a year at a new Canine CellMates facility, leased with a grant from the nonprofit Best Friends Animal Society.

More than 400 men have worked with Canine CellMates and more than 150 shelter dogs have been adopted, according to Susan Jacobs-Meadows, the nonprofit’s founder. The goal is to offer repeat offenders a chance for personal growth. “Once somebody’s in the system once, it’s bad. But once they’re there for the second or third time, their opportunity to get out of and stay out of the system is small. There are almost no resources for those men. Society is done with them… so they’re the ones who really have my heart” Jacobs-Meadows said.

The program is also giving the dogs a second chance. They’re typically pulled from Fulton County Animal Services, an open-intake — and often overcrowded — municipal shelter. Jacobs-Meadows said “The magic of our program is the dogs, they are what starts the process for positive change.” The Canine CellMates team offers long-term support to adopters and supports graduates of its programs.

Jacobs-Meadows stays in touch with many of the program’s graduates who befriend her on Facebook, call or drop by the dog-training facility. Often they have recovered from drug and alcohol addiction, and work jobs, volunteer and reconnect with estranged loved ones. Numerous studies have shown the positive impact of dog-training programs in correctional facilities gives the participants a sense of being connected to a community with training as an act of service while they experience less anxiety and improved mood, leading to lower infraction rates while incarcerated.

Atlanta resident Ray Keith, still participates in the Beyond the Bars and was one of seven men to graduate on Dec. 16, 2021, from phase one of the first class of Beyond the Bars. After a year of participating in Beyond the Bars, his criminal record will be wiped clean. In the meantime, Canine CellMates helped him find a job as a “bark ranger” at a dog park with a popular bar. “Coming from where I’m from, it helped me get a second chance at life,” he said. “The program is definitely giving me a second chance and also giving the dogs a second chance.”