--- title: Inmates Train Dogs for Autistic Children description: California Institute for Women inmates train dogs to be service animals for autistic children and disabled people. canonical: https://time.com/72344/prison-inmates-train-dogs-to-be-service-animals-for-autistic-children/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-22T19:08:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:09:00.421Z og:title: Inmates Train Dogs to Be Service Animals for Autistic Children og:description: Program hopes to turn around the lives of both the people with special needs and the inmates themselves. og:url: https://time.com/72344/prison-inmates-train-dogs-to-be-service-animals-for-autistic-children/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Inmates Train Dogs to Be Service Animals for Autistic Children twitter:description: Program hopes to turn around the lives of both the people with special needs and the inmates themselves. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Inmates Train Dogs to Be Service Animals for Autistic Children  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 22, 2014 7:08 PM UTC  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Apr 22, 2014 7:08 PM UTC This week, [KABC profiled](http://abclocal.go.com/kabc/story?section=news/local/los%5Fangeles&id=9511543) a two-year-old program called Pathways to Hope, in which inmates at the California Institute for Women in Chino, Calif., train dogs to be service animals for autistic children and people with special needs in general. The story below focuses on a 4-year-old with Asperger’s syndrome who is finding it easier to communicate with others since getting a black Labrador named Shasta that was trained by a woman serving a life sentence at the facility. In another [video](http://www.insidecdcr.ca.gov/2014/04/female-inmates-train-shelter-dogs-for-autistic-children-video/) about the program produced this month by the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR), inmates are given a wheelchair to teach a cockapoo mix named Dusty how to pick up trash and retrieve socks from drawers for the dog’s new wheelchair-bound owner. As one of the female inmates says in the CDCR video, training dogs has made her realize, “I am worthy of getting better.” The Colorado Correctional Industries has been doing a similar program since 2002\. In January, [the Denver _Post_](http://www.denverpost.com/animalnews/ci%5F24989997/colorado-prison-trained-dog-turned-autistic-boys-life) profiled it, leading with an anecdote about a mother, Susy Tucker, whose autistic fifth grader Zachary hugged her for the first time after receiving Clyde, a chocolate Labrador, trained by Christopher Vogt, a convicted murderer and inmate at Trinidad Correctional Facility. According to a follow-up [story](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2014/03/19/convicted-murderer-finds-redemption-training-dogs-to-help-autistic-kids/) produced by ABC News last month, Zachary is less anxious and thus getting better grades, especially in math and science. “Here’s a man that isn’t allowed any physical contact,” Tucker [told ABC News](http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/health/2014/03/19/convicted-murderer-finds-redemption-training-dogs-to-help-autistic-kids/). “And yet \[Vogt has\] given my son the ability to hug and to care about other people.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/72344/prison-inmates-train-dogs-to-be-service-animals-for-autistic-children/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/72344/prison-inmates-train-dogs-to-be-service-animals-for-autistic-children/"},"headline":"Inmates Train Dogs to Be Service Animals for Autistic Children","datePublished":"2014-04-22T19:08:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:09:00.421Z","description":"The program hopes to turn around the lives of both the people with special needs and the inmates themselves","url":"https://time.com/72344/prison-inmates-train-dogs-to-be-service-animals-for-autistic-children/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Olivia B. 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