Since the Brighter Futures Elite Program was launched in 2022, 15 inmates have been certified in advanced horse care and have become eligible for employment as grooms. So far, two who have been released from the John A. Bell Correctional Facility have found employment with the help of the warden and equine instructor.
“We help them find work and make sure they are paid fairly,” Chantel Corminboeuf, equine instructor, said.
The program was introduced and is managed by John Bell, Warden Winnie Testamark, and Corminboeuf teaches the course. The therapeutic, vocational program is recognized by the racing industry in the United States.
“Our goal is to make an impact on their lives so that they are better members of the community than when they came in,” Testamark told the Source.
The program includes hours of classroom instruction that consists of equine physical and emotional structure and nutrition. Then they work one-on-one with the horses.
Correctional administrators and medical personnel select inmates to participate in the program so the people selected have a good mindset for the experience.
While the first inmates were being selected for the program, a riding ring and shaded stalls were built and several retired thoroughbred horses were acquired from various owners. A barn will be built next, Corminboeuf said.
First, the inmates learn how to communicate, without talking, with the animal and when both are comfortable, the students will graduate to brushing the animals. Corminboeuf said the course teaches inmates how to connect with other people as well and learn to recognize their own emotions.
“So the way we start, I teach all the grooming parts that connect with the horse. We learn how to handle the horse and read the horse. So we’re starting with the very basic until they’re comfortable with the horse. We work one-on-one in the round pen.”
One inmate is so dedicated that he trained his horse, again without talking, to move where he points a stick. Another is learning to trim hooves with a farrier who comes to the facility.
“The main thing here is to have the inmate realize that they can communicate properly without violence and without using fear. I guide them through breath work, through being able to relax and encourage them to communicate with their hearts,” Corminboeuf said. “For that they need to be centered. They need to put their anger aside. The horse can sense anger. Being a flight animal, they have to sense danger. So negative emotion is a danger for the horse.”
In the classroom for half a year or more, the students study bones and muscles so they can learn to recognize injuries, but they don’t give medications, Corminboeuf said.
John Bell inmates also care for chickens, pigs, a few cows and goats and tend a large garden of fruit and vegetables.
The Elite Program is not the only career training available to inmates. For the last two years, there has been a virtual learning class for those who want to learn to be electrical technicians, the Promising People Program.
“I’m very selective about programming that comes here. I don’t just want to have a program so we have a program. It has to be rooted in data, in best practices,” Testamark said.
“When they are released back into the community, they are our neighbors,” the warden said.
