<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span></span></div><div><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">Courtesy of KPTV (Portland, Oregon) at:</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="font-size: 15px; line-height: 19px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "><a href="http://www.kptv.com/story/21292793/prison-inmates-get-rescue-cats-ready-for-adoption">http://www.kptv.com/story/21292793/prison-inmates-get-rescue-cats-ready-for-adoption</a></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">------------------------------------</div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><br></div><div><h3 class="" style="padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px; clear: both; "><font size="3"><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Prison inmates get rescue cats ready for adoption</span></font></h3></div><span id="WNStoryDateline" style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; display: inline; float: left; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 5px 0px 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">YACOLT, WA (KPTV) -</span></span><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">There are sounds you expect to hear in prison - the locking of doors, announcements over the intercom, voices of staff members on walkie-talkies.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">If you visit the Silver Star Unit at Larch Corrections Center, you may also hear something unfamiliar – meows, purrs and the jingle of cat toys.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);"><br></span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Five felines currently reside at the prison as part of a cat adoption program coordinated with the West Columbia Gorge Humane Society. The inmates socialize the cats and get them ready to be adopted.</span></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; "><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Jerry Warfield is caring for a cat named Jinx, who previously lived in a hoarding situation.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"When she came, she did nothing but hide," he said. "She went straight underneath the bed, and she wouldn't come out for nothing. First couple of days, she didn't want to come out to eat."</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">After several weeks, Jinx has come around.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">She allows Warfield to carry her around the unit and spends much of her day climbing onto several perches mounted on the walls of Warfield's room.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"She'll make somebody a really good pet," Warfield said confidently. "Someone that will love her and pay attention to her."</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Like Jinx, most of the cats at Larch were rescued from neglectful or abusive situations. There's also Clark, a portly gray and white cat, who came to the program to lose weight.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Each cat lives with two inmates in a room equipped with scratching posts and a litter box.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The inmates feed and care for the animals and help them overcome behavioral issues, like shyness or aggressiveness.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Succeeding means saying goodbye.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"It's kind of sad, but in a way you're happy because you know she's going to a better environment than what she came out of," said Kevin Hanson. <br></span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">The program is also designed to benefit the inmates. Beyond the sense of pride that comes from helping the cats, the work helps inmates get ready for their eventual release from the corrections facility. <br></span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">"In a situation like this, normally, typically you don't have a lot of responsibility, so when you go back to the community, you're not used to the responsibility, so it kind of overwhelms you," said Warfield. "This, it kind of keeps you on track, gives you a sense of responsibility. It helps build you and prepare you for your release."</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Since the program began last year, the inmates have helped nine cats get adopted. They also raised six kittens, bottle-feeding them every four hours until the animals could eat solid food. <br></span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">To work with the cats, the inmates must have a history of good behavior with the Department of Corrections and no violent crimes or animal abuse in their history. The application process also includes an interview with prison staff. <br></span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">While other prisons have foster programs for dogs, this is only one of two programs involving cats in the Washington State Department of Corrections, according to prison officials.</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><img src="cid:76BBC3D4-5FE9-4DEA-8463-E84EAA67E28C" alt="21292793_BG1.jpg" id="76BBC3D4-5FE9-4DEA-8463-E84EAA67E28C" width="640" height="359"></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">--------------------</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="background-color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0);">Video</span></p><p style="margin: 12px 0px; padding: 0px; "><span style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 18px; white-space: nowrap; -webkit-tap-highlight-color: rgba(26, 26, 26, 0.296875); -webkit-composition-fill-color: rgba(175, 192, 227, 0.230469); -webkit-composition-frame-color: rgba(77, 128, 180, 0.230469); -webkit-text-size-adjust: none; "><a href="http://tinyurl.com/ao5t7lr">http://tinyurl.com/ao5t7lr</a></span></p></div><div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; ">------------------------------------<br><br><div>Seeya round town, Moscow, because . . .</div><div><br></div><div>"Moscow Cares"</div><div><a href="http://www.MoscowCares.com">http://www.MoscowCares.com</a></div><div> </div><div><div>Tom Hansen</div><div>Moscow, Idaho</div><div><br></div></div><div><div> </div></div></div></div></div><div><div><div> </div></div></div></body></html>