'Pets can really change lives': Douglas prison pairs inmates with cats, creating unlikely alliance

Chicken bologna helped form an unexpected alliance between prison inmates in Douglas and the prison’s increasing feral cat population.

For years, the Douglas Arizona State Prison Complex has had a feral cat problem. Instead of trapping and killing them, as has been done in the past, the prison and the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, an animal advocacy and shelter nonprofit, are collaborating to save them.

“It shows the power that comes when pets and people come together, pets can really change lives,” Steve Farley, chief executive officer of the Humane Society of Southern Arizona, said about the program.

With more than 100 cats living in the prison complex, the Humane Society of Southern Arizona began a trap, neuter and release program where inmates trap the feral cats, so the nonprofit can get them neutered and spayed, before returning them to their home.

Inmates are also fostering the kittens that are too young to be spayed and neutered.

Chicken bologna helped the inmates and cats bond.

“The inmates really hate chicken bologna, but cats really like the chicken bologna,” Farley said. The inmates feed the cats the bologna, creating a natural bond between them and the felines.

Farley said the Humane Society delivers traps every week and the staff and inmates set up the traps, and then the nonprofit drives the cats to Tucson where they get their surgeries and treatments. The cats are brought back the next day and released where they were. Prison officials did not respond for comment for this article.

As of August, the Humane Society has provided 243 cats with Trap Neuter Return services free of charge to Cochise County since the beginning of the year, including the communities of Willcox, Pearce, Sunizona and Douglas. In total, 40 of those cats came from the Douglas prison.

The Douglas feral cat problem has been worsening over the years, with cats coming to the jail from nearby farms.

“You can remove kittens and you can remove cats, but if you don't spay and neuter and you don't find the problem at the core, which is these cats are breeding … then the problem will never really get solved,” said Angéline Fahey, the organization’s community cat program manager about the prison’s feral cats.

This program is helping transform some of the men who are fostering the kittens, Fahey said. She has heard how the inmates are bonding with the cats.

“We know when we receive these kittens how well they are just by their behavior,” Fahey said. “We had someone write us a little bio just so we could understand what the kitten likes and what its name was.”

Farley said this program opens a new way of thinking about prison rehabilitation. The Humane Society has another program, the New Beginnings Behavior Program.

In the New Beginnings Behavior program, people who are incarcerated clean out the kennels and work with behaviorally challenged dogs every day, under the supervision of the behavioral supervisor to help the dogs become more social and adoptable.

“They are in the kennels cuddling with a dog or cat and sometimes see tears running down their face,” Farley said. “It can make a big difference. Pets and prisoners can be really magical for each other.”

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Reach reporter Sarah Lapidus at sarah.lapidus@gannett.com.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona prison inmates foster kittens in Human Society program