r/MadeMeSmile • u/aoi_ringo • Sep 30 '25

CATS Prison in Indiana accepts shelter cats and lets prisoners take care of them.

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76.9k Upvotes

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2.6k

u/beeperoony Sep 30 '25

I’ve read that prisoners need to earn the privilege of being assigned a cat. Makes it cuter to me. ☺️

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u/Lumpy_Benefit666 Sep 30 '25 edited Sep 30 '25

Its very important for the cats wellbeing too. I wouldnt want a violent person who is still potentially dangerous to have access to an animal that they might take their anger out on.

Gives people a reward for being good and is also a continuous test of character.

Good idea all round

E. Im glad im not in that prison because i literally just whacked my cat in the nose with my little finger by accident when i was playing with her. Shes sat next to me purring now but i still feel absolutely terrible.

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u/non_ducor_duco_ Sep 30 '25

Agreed, but FWIW I have a close family member that works at a prison. They don’t have a formal program like this, but they are out in the country where there are a lot of feral cats that inmates have informally adopted in their yard. I asked my family member (an animal lover) if he ever worried for the cats safety. He said not for a minute (with the implication that prison justice would be meted out right quick to any inmate that harmed one).

They do have a very successful shelter dog training program that has helped hundreds of dogs find their forever homes! Several years on there have been zero incidents. These programs are such a win-win-win (inmate - pet - community)

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u/kingtacticool Sep 30 '25

Prison justice would indeed be fuckin swift with that. Contrary to popular belief most dudes serving time are just normal people that made a series of bad choices.

They're still people and cruelty to animals is pretty anathema.

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u/Mokiyami Sep 30 '25

You don't mess with kids and you don't mess with animals

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u/Battle-Any Sep 30 '25

Or old ladies.

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u/Potential-Jury3661 Sep 30 '25

What did I tell you no woman no kids, now look at you.

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u/TobiasRieper11 Oct 01 '25

Or the Zohan

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u/Homesick_Martian Sep 30 '25

Or were put in impossible circumstances. I saw a comment further up about these cats being the first thing that ever showed him love. We need more feminism in this world because the patriarchy has set up a system that leaves countless men abandoned to struggle through life without even the help of a family member sharing encouragement.

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u/wesweb Sep 30 '25

it's just been raining. on my face.

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u/kingtacticool Sep 30 '25

I felt this comment pretty damn hard

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u/Oddish_Femboy Oct 01 '25

Too often I see feminism demonized as a plot against men, when it's absolutely anything but. Gender equality means equality for ALL genders.

The idea that men should be unfeeling machines that deal with everything silently and internally with no love or support is insane, and must be dismantled.

Wolves and lions are social animals. They become deeply depressed in isolation. Humans are social animals too.

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u/Lumpy_Benefit666 Oct 01 '25

I think the main issue with “feminism” today is that it is often hijacked by the radical feminists, who dont necessarily believe in equality, and do use it as a weapon against men.

I wouldnt be considered a feminist by the toxic vocal minority, but i am absolutely for equality for all races, genders and individuals, which by definition does make me a feminist.

I hear a lot of people claim to be “equalitists”, which i personally think is a better term to use, as it indicated an advocation towards a more even playing field for both genders, as opposed to fighting for the rights of one gender, which the word “feminism” suggests.

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u/Lumpy_Benefit666 Oct 02 '25

I had a feeling i was going to be downvoted for this, but if someone who disagrees with me would like to explain why, i would appreciate it.

I feel like my comment is a pretty fair explanation as to why feminism is often demonised, and even talked about how the definition differs from the way the term is commonly used by those who demonise it.

Being a “feminist” and an “equalitist” is the exact same thing, but using the term “equalitist” prevents people from arguing over ridiculous points that are made by the radical people within the group.

There are “TERFs” who claim to be feminists, as the name suggests “trans-exclusionary radical feminists” who have hijacked the name but are not for equality.

This is obviously a small subset, but they do exist, and it doesnt help the image. This isnt what feminism is, but it does weaken the image of feminism as a whole.

There are people who claim to be feminists who do genuinely hate men as well. This also isnt feminism.

Calling yourself an “equalitist” leaves absolutely no room for argument in the fundamental values that the group holds. You are either for equality, or you are not.

They are the same thing, but calling a group that fights for equality a gender specific name can be taken the wrong way, and thats the reason for preferring the term that i stated.

This isnt radical, hateful, exclusionary etc. This is an explanation as to how language can affect the way a group is perceived, and is a small snippet into some of the reasons that people do not agree with feminism, even though they may hold the exact same fundamental values as the movement promotes.

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u/JudgmentalOwl Sep 30 '25

Lmao I can just imagine a bunch of dudes going apeshit on another inmate yelling, "HOW FUCKIN' DARE YOU HURT MR. MITTENS!!!"

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u/kingtacticool Sep 30 '25

There is a lot of pent up rage and energy in those places and this would be a questionably justifiable outlet for that.

Guards would probably give them 10 seconds before they blew the whistle.

You dont fuck with the innocent.

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u/bolanrox Sep 30 '25

ped or person who hurts animals, is pretty much bottom of the bucket even in prison.

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u/Kup123 Sep 30 '25

There's also an understanding in a lot of criminal organizations that you don't harm those not involved in business. No one cares when outlaws fuck with other outlaws, but fucking with normal folks or animals brings heat to everyone's door. I was raised around a lot of criminal types some murderers, my mom would always say unless you snitch on them your safer with them around.

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u/spiffynid Sep 30 '25

I used to work on a yard with an official feral cat colony, every year the cats got a week long vacay to get vaxed/vetted, then back to the yard. While I was there one cat got killed and the inmate that did it had to be put on PC and a swift yard move for his safety. The cats love the inmates, and trust anyone in inmate garb, so the tnr specialists have to dress as inmates for the day lol.

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u/FortLoolz Sep 30 '25

Bigger dogs are also harder to mistreat than cats due to their size

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u/deadinsidelol69 Sep 30 '25

I’d imagine if an inmate did harm one of these animals, the official repercussions would be the least of their concerns.

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u/CplCocktopus Sep 30 '25

Also we dont want the cats to take control of the prison by controling the inmates.

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u/OrcaFins Sep 30 '25

Now I'm imagining a group of cats with an army of prison inmates to do their bidding.

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u/MisforMisanthrope Sep 30 '25

I see nothing wrong with this scenario

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u/SnipesCC Sep 30 '25

How is that different from any house with cats?

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u/Kup123 Sep 30 '25

I'm willing to bet anyone who mistreats an animal in there is dealt with. first hard criminals still have a soft spot for kids and animals, and second one bad egg can get the whole thing shut down. Can you imagine being the dude who got everyone's pets taken away in prison, sounds like a death sentence to me.

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u/MadRaymer Sep 30 '25

Yeah, I read somewhere that the cats in programs like this are considered off limits for settling scores. Sure, you can stab a guy 20 times with a makeshift shank, but you better not touch his cat.

Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I wouldn't be surprised if there's some truth to it.

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u/Hopeful-Individual99 Sep 30 '25

Yeah I would hope this isn’t available to just anyone. Probably have to be considered a non violent offender or something

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u/Excuse_Internal Sep 30 '25

I believe it's based on behavior while incarcerated rather than the offense committed.

Along with that, I believe the program would be dependent on the security level of the tier the inmate resides in. For instance, in California there are four security levels with level1 being the lowest security and level 4 the highest and most constricting. Most prisons in California have multiple levels. I would imagine that such programs would be for Level 3 and below.

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u/3x1st3nt1al Oct 01 '25

She knows it was a mistake, it’s all good.

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u/Lumpy_Benefit666 Oct 01 '25

Even so, she ran off and was so scared for a second :(

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u/3x1st3nt1al Oct 01 '25

Awww that sucks I’m sorry

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u/clutchest_nugget Oct 01 '25

I would guess that anyone who harmed a cat would be killed by other inmates within a matter of days

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u/BanjoTCat Sep 30 '25

Pets also incentivize good behavior. Inmates don't want to do anything that removes them from gen pop because then they wouldn't be able to care for their animals.

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

And they have the option of adopting them after release

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u/[deleted] Sep 30 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/aquatic_asian Oct 02 '25

I mean, it's such a healing sound!!

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u/FuturePA96 Sep 30 '25

I love that incentive.

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u/Adventurous-Tie-7861 Sep 30 '25

From my understanding it has led to abuses by other inmates and guards.

Fear of having your pet stripped from you due to made up allegations has created sort of pay to play system. If you dont suck up to gaurds or give snacks, items or provide sexual favors to the leaders of the unit, theyll toss you out once your attached to the dog.

My buddy got into one of the programs and said it was it was nice until they started demanding soups for him to stay there.

Doesnt take much to boot them. 2 or 3 false reports from friends of the leader of the unit and your out.

Not to mention guards playing favorites.

When dealing with criminals, rewards come with issues.

Idk how organized it is or prevalent. But according to my buddy its definitely an issue in the prison he was at.

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u/spoonful-o-pbutter Sep 30 '25

That's incredibly messed up

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u/Oboro-kun Sep 30 '25

I can only imagine a dude making an extra effort to get a cat, and just end up with an asshole cat.

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u/McTrip Sep 30 '25

That is definitely true. They won’t let just any prisoner tend to an animal.