Jailhouse Study Is Time Well Spent

摘要

For 10 years I have been teaching animal behaviour and conservation biology at the Boulder County Jail in Colorado. The course - part of the Jane Goodall Institute's Roots & Shoots programme - is one of the most popular in the jail. Inmates have to earn the right to enroll and they work hard to get in. One reason the course is so popular is that many prisoners find it easier to connect with animals than with people, because animals don't judge them. Many of the inmates had lived with dogs, cats and other companion animals who were their best friends. They trust and empathise with animals in ways they don't with humans.