LOGAN COUNTY, Ill. (WAND) — Since 2001, Helping Paws has helped individuals in custody gain professional and personal skills that prepare them for life after incarceration.
Helping Paws is an Illinois Corrections Industries program at Logan County Correctional Center in Lincoln. Individuals in custody are hired into the program to train mobility service dogs for people with disabilities or health issues.
"Our role is to reduce recidivism," said Brock Webb, Correctional Vocational Instructor. "The whole role of correctional industries is to teach trades that individuals in custody can take out into the community and be successful in the workforce."
Once a woman in custody has been promoted to a trainer, she will enter the apprenticeship through the U.S. Department of Labor. Then once she completes 4,000 classroom and hands-on training hours, she will receive certification as an animal trainer.
Webb has the opportunity to be a part of the unification of the service dog and its new owner. He said it's rewarding to see the moment, but to him, the most rewarding part is seeing the growth in the women part of the program.
"Once they get a taste of helping people and saving a life it completely changes their entire outlook on life."
Judy Richardson is a Helping Paws program success story.
"I had been incarcerated many times and had issues with addiction most of my life."
After landing herself behind bars once again, Richardson joined the Helping Paws Program. Throughout the program, she would train dogs and get them prepared to join a family where it was needed most.
"A lot of things we are taught in the program were lessons that I needed."
Throughout her time behind bars, Richardson said she started to grow as a person and look at life differently. She utilized programs through ICI and re-entry programs to prepare her for life after.
"I truly believed my life would be an addiction, prison, addiction, prison," she said. "But, this time being a part of Helping Paws Program and just getting that opportunity by ICI made the difference."
After being released, Richardson said life wasn't easy. She had to continue to work on her sobriety and build back a stronger life. She started working at Angel Paws in Champaign as a dog groomer and then was hired at Pets Paradise as a groomer. She eventually bought a home and now has her own dog grooming business that she runs out of her house called Pet Perfection.
Dog groomed by Judy Richardson.Â
"Programming works," she said. "I was given an opportunity and I took advantage of it."
In addition to the training and certification she received through the Helping Paws Program, Richardson has received certification from the U.S. Department of Labor and works at Rivian.
Helping Paws is partnered with Paws Giving Independence in Peoria and MidAmerica Service Dog Foundation in Chicago. Both companies are run by volunteers and do not charge recipients for service dogs.
Helping Paws varies from 40-60 individuals in custody training around 25 dogs at a time at the facility. Each dog is trained for 12-18 months. The training is highly specialized during the last few months to the specific recipient's needs of the dog.
Women who are in custody and who qualify, also earn day-for-day credits from the lengths of their sentences. The overall goal of the program is to build individuals in IDOC's custody into highly employable, confident people to successfully rejoin society, while partnering with the community to greatly improve and in some cases save lives of recipients in need of service dogs.
Dogs groomed by Judy Richardson.Â
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