Orofino prison hoping to become a place of change

OROFINO – The culture of prisons has changed since Terema Carlin started work in the corrections system and she’s continuing to make positive changes.

She began as a correctional officer in 1997 and has been the warden of Idaho Correctional Institution at Orofino for 15 years.

The facility itself can house up to 580 people divided among multiple custody levels from general population to administrative segregation. Currently, there are about 560 inmates at different levels.

Those in general population are the least restricted. They can access the indoor and outdoor facilities and attend school and other specialty programs. Administrative custody is the highest level of security, where they can only leave their cells for an hour a day and are restrained and escorted by staff, said Sgt. Sergio Medrano.

Carlin’s goal for the inmates in her care is to create “an atmosphere where (inmates) can grow and become more prosocial when they get out.”

To help with that, inmates can get involved with the facility’s dog training program, they can continue their education and even develop hobbies that turn into lifelong passions.

Dog training

During a public tour and open house of the Orofino prison in April, the dog training portion was the most popular. Not only because of the happy tail wags, doggy kisses and the petting of furry friends, but also through hearing the stories of inmates who had their lives changed through the program.

Paroling Animals With Skills, or PAWS program, at the facility has inmates train dogs through a partnership with four different organizations: the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter, Canines With A Cause, Boise Bully Breed and Faithful Fields.

The PAWS program got its start in 2014, training dogs provided by the animal shelter in Lewiston and the Clearwater Humane Society in Orofino.

When the Lewis Clark Animal Shelter brings the dogs to the prison inmates conduct an eight-week basic obedience program and work through any behavioral issues. Sometimes the program takes longer if the trainer realizes the dog needs more time to be trained.

“We’ve had some dogs that came through the program that by the time they left they were completely different,” Joseph Chavez, an inmate involved with the PAWS program, said. “And that gives us a sense of purpose to give back, not just to the community for adoption rates, but also for the dog to know that they can trust and love again.”

The PAWS program partnered with Canines With a Cause in 2018, which is a service animal facility in Salt Lake City. The men who take part in the PAWS program are often hired by Canines With a Cause after their release from prison. They provide screening services to see which dogs fit the criteria to be service dogs through the PAWS program. Dogs are trained as emotional support animals or receive more advanced training. Once their training is complete, which can take up to 12 weeks, they are paired with a military veteran.

Faithful Fields trains dogs for anyone – not just veterans – who needs an emotional support animal for anxiety or for places like hospitals, fire departments and schools.

The PAWS program had its first dog from Faithful Fields, named Oscar, that recently finished his training. Richie Alaniz, who started the nonprofit, Faithful Fields, is a graduate of the PAWS program from the prison. He also gives the men currently in the program an example to follow and inspires them to keep going.

“We want to aspire to be just like them. We want to get out here, we want to make a difference, we want to come back and still affect our brotherhood like they do and that example excites me,” said Tyler Finlay, an inmate involved with the PAWS program. “It just shows us what we’re capable of.”

The dogs are with their handlers 24/7, or with their secondary handler if the primary handler is working one of the jobs on site or in school. The dogs also live with their handlers in their living areas to give the dogs more of a home experience. Trainers use a positive-based system that doesn’t use coercion or force.

“We get the dogs to obey out of trust and love,” Chavez said. “So when they leave it’s sort of that bitter-sweet thing because we built a good bond with them. But we also know that they can now trust the next people.”

Although the PAWS program is about training dogs, the dogs aren’t the only ones who learn from the experience. It teaches the inmates how to balance their lives when they are released back into the community because they have learned to balance training a dog with their other obligations like school, work and chores, Carlin said. It also gives the men an opportunity to change.

“This program, as far as all the dog partnerships and all of the training, is so much more than just training dogs,” Carlin said. “One of the things that the guys have to do is also be committed to becoming better men and becoming leaders.”

Finlay said the PAWS program mantra is “dogs first,” which means the trainers are putting something before themselves.

“Most of the decisions that got us into this situation were selfish ones, so if we really adopt that ‘dogs first,’ we start to build a foundation, a foundation that changes people,” Finlay said. “It’s changed my life.”

Continuing education

By taking college classes, inmates at the Orofino prison are able to expand their learning the same way others can outside the facility. The prison has a higher education lab where residents take college-level courses through Lewis-Clark State College and the University of Idaho. It also has various labs, technology equipment and a library so inmates can develop skills in other areas and sometimes earn certifications. By taking classes and getting certifications, they can earn degrees and develop skills that will help them have a career when they are released.

The first priority is to make sure the inmates have their GEDs. The next step is digital literacy certification for various Microsoft office programs as well as financial accounting software. Then they can move onto college-level courses and attend the higher education lab.

There is an application process to be in the higher education program at the prison similar to a college application. Students can also apply for federal Pell grants and Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, because inmates qualify as low-income earners.

The school’s main classroom has walls painted with a plum purple, a color that inmate and school attendee Silas Parks picked himself.

“I definitely got a lot of flack for it but I do love it,” he said about the color choice.

Inmates can be at the school eight hours a day, five days a week and they typically have 50-80 inmates in attendance. This semester more than 10% of the prison population is enrolled in higher education courses.

Inmates aren’t the only ones who attend the school. The prison is getting ready to graduate its 10th semester of Inside Out, which is a program for UI and LCSC college students to come in and have classes with the inmates.

Joining the podcast craze

Some of the inmates at the Orofino prison have also joined the podcast trend by starting their own called CONtrast.

The idea began when some of the Idaho Department of Correction staff heard a podcast with inmates from the California correctional system and wanted to do the same thing in Orofino. The podcast covers a range of topics, like addiction; has included an interview with the director of the Idaho Department of Correction, Josh Tewalt; and often highlights different areas of the prison.

Parks said the name of the podcast was, in part, a play on the word “con,” short for convict, and to give people a glimpse into life at the Orofino prison.

“The idea was, we wanted to get the contrast of the world views of the people who live in prison, the people who work at the prison, as well as the community and kinda try to bring them together,” Parks said.

The podcasts are available at the Idaho Department of Correction Orofino Facebook page www.facebook.com/watch/?v=461570812006545 and there are plans to have a YouTube channel.

Creating a passion

Other programs allow inmates to build a hobby into a passion.

One inmate started a garden that has grown into a valuable addition for the inmates and the prison’s kitchen. The garden was started 15 years ago and a greenhouse was soon added.

Garlic, bok choy, strawberries, melons, pumpkins, cucumbers, radishes, sugar peas, different varieties of tomatoes and squash, along with herbs like chives, spearmint and chocolate mint are all grown in the garden. The produce then goes back into the kitchen, and helps reduce the food cost for the prison, saving approximately $13,000 a year.

“The best part is that all of the surveys from our residents, as far as food service and food quality, is really high,” Carlin said. “Because it just makes the food that much better.”

If gardening isn’t a hobby someone wants to pursue, there’s also painting and other art projects they can enjoy. Inmates can make items by drawing, knitting, beading and using paper mache, if they have a hobby craft card. To get a hobby card, the inmate has to go six months without an incident, then they can order and pay for materials.

Carlin also started a painting program a few years ago and buys all the canvas, paint and tools for men who have been behaving well, but couldn’t afford to purchase the equipment themselves.

She currently has five men participating in the program. One, who Carlin said has turned into a phenomenal painter, didn’t even know he had the talent for it before he took part in the program.

Specialty teams

Life for inmates in prisons is one of the aspects that has changed, but Carlin has also seen changes in the way staff interact with the inmates. This includes the use of specialty teams like emergency response, negotiation teams and mental health services.

The emergency response teams deal with tactical and medical responses within the prison and sometimes outside if an inmate escapes, according to Officer John Wilcoxson. The negotiation team also responds to a crisis but learns to listen and talk through the situation, like if an inmate is refusing to come out of his cell, according to Sgt. Greg Heun. Both the emergency response and negotiation teams receive extra training to handle the situations.

Bryan Gimmeson is the mental health clinician at the Orofino prison and helps inmates access mental health services. Most of the time that’s through mental health groups if the person requests it but sometimes it involves providing an inmate with medication for treatment.

Despite some of the circumstances in working at a prison, Carlin finds the positive for the staff and inmates. She does it so well that during the April tour staff members brought their spouses and children to share their workplace, and former inmates returned and shared hugs and smiles.

“Culture has changed immensely in prisons in the last 26 years,” Carlin said of her time at the department of correction.

Brewster may be contacted at kbrewster@lmtribune.com or at (208) 848-2297.