Mean dogs, few escapes at Idaho prison

[Flaxbee]

Hmm. What do you think? Is this a good idea, or not? Full story at link.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29866455/


Message to inmates: Beware the 100-pound Rottweiler with an attitude
BOISE, Idaho - Nobody has broken out of the Idaho State Correctional Institution in more than 20 years. Prison officials like to think a hard-bitten corps of sentries with names like Cookie, Bongo and Chi Chi has had something to do with that.

The institution is the only state prison in the U.S. to use snarling, snapping sentry dogs to patrol its perimeter.

In a program begun in 1986, 24 mean dogs — mostly German shepherds, Rottweilers and Belgian malinois, with a few boxers and pit bulls — roam the space between the inner and outer chain-link fences 24 hours a day, ferociously defending their territory.

Get too close to the fence and they will bare their teeth, bark and lunge. Set foot in their space and they will attack.

The animals themselves are former death-row inmates — dogs that were deemed too dangerous to be pets and would have been destroyed at the local pound if they had not been given a reprieve and assigned to prison duty.

"We're basically giving them a second chance at a good, healthy life," said Corrections Officer Michael Amos, who heads the sentry dog program. "Those same instincts that make them a bad pet make them good sentries."

[flvegan]

1. Schutzhund, per chance? Great idea.

It's the canine equivalent to being a proper Marine.

[Mugu]

2. I remember as a child (I'm 56 now) the breeder that we got our pet from

talking about occasionally he would get a crazy puppy. Instead of destroying the puppy (which could only be handled while wearing gloves) he would give it to the state (Kansas) prison system. According to him, it couldn't be bought off with food or being nice. They would attack anybody that they could get their mouth on.

[Common Sense Party]

3. Sounds good to me.

Saves the dogs' lives, gives them a meaningful job to do, reminds the inmates they're supposed to stay INSIDE the prison proper.

Sounds like a win/win.

[RebelOne]

4. Well, here's a prison in Louisiana where no inmate

would want to try an escape. It has a bear as a sentry.

Wild Bear Serves As Guard

The Associated Press reports having a 400-pound black bear living in the middle of the sprawling Louisiana State Penitentiary strikes Warden Burl Cain as a very good thing.

“I love that bear being right where it is,” Cain said in an AP report. “I tell you what, none of our inmates are going to try to get out after dark and wander around when they might run into a big, old bear. It’s like having another guard at no cost to the taxpayers.”

AP officials reported the bear was first seen crossing a road in the prison. It was taking a stroll near the center of the state’s only maximum-security prison, which is about 115 miles northwest of New Orleans.

The 18,000-acre prison is the size of Manhattan,” Young said. Although most of it is run as a farm, about 3,500 acres in the Tunica Hills is mostly untouched piney woods.”

[Shell Beau]

5. The dogs weren't put down, so that is good.

And prisoners are staying in, so that is good.

Sounds good to me. :shrug: I am sure someone will point out a down side though.