MISTAKES made in the past resulted in a 13-month jail sentence for this man, but now this Bathurst Jail inmate says a life-changing program has allowed him to become a better person.
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For the past eight months the inmate, who cannot be named, has been involved with the Defence Community Dog program which is run by Corrective Services NSW.
The initiative pairs up inmates with rescue dogs for an intensive six-month training period to provide assistance dogs for Australia’s Defence Force veterans.
And the result not only changes the lives of veterans suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety or depression, but also the inmates who train the dog.
“I put my name down as soon as I heard about the program,” the inmate said.
“I had to do the time regardless, but doing something good with it would definitely come out with good results.”
Inmates live with their allocated dog 24 hours-a-day in the jail’s Honour House, and training is conducted in the jail and also out in the Bathurst community.
The trust that has been put in this inmate by corrections officers is not lost on him.
“To be in this situation and be trusted in massive,” he said.
“The trust that they have in us and that I have in the officers as well … we’re all a team, we’re part of this together.”
Zac the Labrador was allocated to this inmate to train and late last year the dog graduated and was handed over to his new owner – a Defence Force veteran.
You need a lot of patience to train a dog, you need consistency and with those two things I think that I’ve really set some good foundations for myself when I am released.
- Bathurst Jail inmate
“When I found out who was getting Zac I was emotional, I started crying, the veteran, he started crying too,” he said.
“I was just so happy that he was getting Zac because this veteran had a mellow side to him, but he had a strong side to him.”
Just five weeks before his release from Bathurst Jail, this inmate said the program had changed him.
“This has made my time worth it … I’m a better person,” he said.
“I had quite a severe anxiety and it’s allowed me to break down that barrier.
“You need a lot of patience to train a dog, you need consistency and with those two things I think that I’ve really set some good foundations for myself when I am released.”