Penitentiary Centres
Following the success achieved with the PATE programme carried out with retired people in Majorca in December 1992, the Affinity Foundation proposed the introduction of PATE programmes in penitentiary centres to the Department of Justice of the Generalitat, the autonomous government of Catalonia.
The proposition was received with enthusiasm by the Catalan authorities and, in July 1993, the first programme was started up in the Quatre Camins prison (Barcelona) with two dogs of the boxer breed. In 1994, a second programme was started up in the Brians prison (Barcelona), followed by another one in 1995 in the Ponent prison (Lleida). In 2002, a programme using two dogs of the Labrador breed was started up in Can Consol, a centre where former inmates of the Quatre Camins prison who now benefited from a more open penitentiary system were kept.
Also in December 1992, the Affinity Foundation had talks with the Head Office for Penitentiary Affairs in Madrid and, as a consequence, three programmes were started up: the first one in Cartagena, using canaries, the second one in Murcia, using dogs, and the third one in the Alcalá Meco prison for women, also using dogs. Furthermore, in 1996, the Foundation implemented a programme with cats in collaboration with the Anti-Aids Civil Association of Alava which takes in convicts benefiting from an open penitentiary system and terminally ill inmates patients from the Nanclares prison.
In parallel with the work carried out in Penitentiary Centres, the Affinity Foundation has collaborated with special schools dealing with the rehabilitation of teenagers with behaviour problems, such as Andolu (Vitoria), Oriol Badia (Barcelona), or El Madroño (Madrid).
The three types of programmes implemented by the Affinity Foundation in penitentiary centres are:
- Programmes in Penitentiary Centres
- Programmes in Penitentiary Psychiatric Hospitals
- Programmes in Occupational Training Penitentiary Centres
The follow-up actions taken for all those projects prove that the presence of pets provide the inmates with the following benefits:
- It improves their self-esteem as they take responsibility for other living creatures
- They can give and receive love
- They learn new skills
- In the case of young people, they learn to value life more accurately and to respect living creatures
