Inmates at the Bay Correctional Facility will have the chance to learn a new trade and help the community at the same time.

The State Prison, Bay County Animal Shelter, and the Bay County Veterans Service Office have teamed up to initiate a new program called cell PALS.

Cell PALS stands for Prisoners and Animals Learning to Serve. The inmates will be training the dogs to become service animals for Disabled Veterans Canine Corps.

The selected inmates will train animals rescued from the animal shelter next door. The partners are excited to have a program like this.

Richard Spivey of the Warden Bay Correctional Facility said, "We will be cooperating with the shelter here and rescuing dogs and training them with our inmates at Bay Correctional Facility so that they can be turned over to disabled veterans in the future. This is one of the programs that we have at our program and facility here at Bay Correctional."

Jim Crosby
Director of the Bay County Animal Shelter, said, "We're very pleased to be working with CCA and Bay County Correctional for this new program for pets, for veterans. We're going to be supplying the animals to the prison and giving support for them."

The program will start with four dogs in-training. Had the dogs not been selected for this program, and had not been adopted, they most likely would have been euthanized.