Cats for Cons

I have an idea to improve prison conditions in a unique way. Prison inmates who show good behavior should be permitted to adopt a cat and keep it with them. They’d have to take care of the cat, feeding and watering and litter-scooping and so on, but the cat would stay with them and go with them on discharge. This would promote responsibility, as well as providing emotional support and increasing compassion and connection, traits which are hard to develop in prison. 

Dogs require too much upkeep and outside time, as well as being a potential safety hazard. Cats are more independent, as well as more comfortable with a small, enclosed environment –  plus, no one’s siccing a cat on a guard. 

There are a ton of cats in this country who need homes, and this would provide a welcome alternative to euthanization. It would also provide an incentive for inmates to practice good behavior – if an inmate knows they can earn a fluffy companion to make their sentence easier, they are likely to comply. 

We would have to ensure that guards do not threaten the inmates’ access to their cats as a bargaining chip. Perhaps establishing that the cats cannot be removed unless the inmates are abusing them. There is also the concern that other inmates may threaten the cats due to internal conflicts between inmates. We would most likely need to ensure that the inmates eligible for cat ownership have already proved their responsibility by qualifying for an independent cell, with a guard left to monitor the block when they are away.

This is an opportunity to save some of the thousands of unwanted cats that we are euthanizing every day. Also, letting inmates adopt in-need cats provides an incentive for compliance with incarceration, as well as a chance to develop empathy and responsibility. In order to successfully rehabilitate inmates, we must teach them how to care for something outside of themselves. What better way to teach that, than by giving them someone to love?