Prison Dog Programs across Australia are helping to rehabilitate prisoners and their relationships with people.

The programs pair a dog with one or more inmates, who will then train and socialise the dog until it is ready to be homed.

“With the prison population steadily increasing in Australia and over half of prisoners reoffending, we have to find better ways to deter and rehabilitate offenders,” UNE researcher Lauren Humby said.

“Prison dog programs are one way we can do that.

“They give inmates the opportunity to develop social, emotional and vocational skills, and a chance to give back to the community.”

Learning to read emotions in dogs helps offenders relate to other people.

It improves prison culture and can help to reduce reoffending.

Some of the dogs trained in these programs go on to work as service dogs, Ms Humby said.

And, it’s not just the prisoners who benefit from having the dogs around.

In six states, other inmates and prisoners had improved relationships.

“Even those not participating in the program benefit,” Ms Humby said.

“Dogs have a calming effect and just having them in prisons can be enough.

“The programs provide inmates with a change to make a positive contribution to society and make recompense for past crimes.”

Taking responsibility for the dogs helped the inmates develop work ethic, communication skills, teamwork, patience and discipline.

Some of them told Ms Humby they thought they would be better parents as a result.

Criminal behaviour has previously been linked to low emotional intelligence, Ms Humby tested whether the dogs could help prisoners to better read emotional cues.

“With research suggesting humans process dog and human facial affect in similar ways, it is reasonable to hypothesise that participating in PDPs and learning to read the behavioural cues of dogs could lead to an increased ability to recognise and process emotions in others,” she said.

Ms Humby showed the inmates pictures of dogs with different behaviours – they were then asked to describe the emotion.

She has now developed a model to improve future dog programs.

“I am a big believer that everyone has potential, often our paths come down to life circumstances,” Ms Humby said.

“Prisoners just need a helping hand and dog programs are one way we can do that.”