WALLA WALLA, WA (KVEW/CNN) - Inmates in a Washington prison are participating in a program to help raise sheep that are on the endangered species list, and giving them the skills to help them once they are released.
“There’s a lot of us in prison who could use this type of learning, education,” said Justin Lange, an inmate caring for bighorn sheep at Washington State Penitentiary.
The Sustainability in Prisons Project is teaching inmates how to work with bighorn sheep, which has been ravaged by deadly bacterium that causes pneumonia.
Bighorn sheep, once widespread in North America, is now an endangered species, in part because of the he bacteria called Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae, known as M. ovi.
The program hopes it can breed sheep without the disease and then sell them to farmers and ranchers.
"One of the most effective ways to reduce recidivism is to offer education," said Kelli Bush, Co-Director of the Sustainability in Prisons Project. "We look to offer it and also bring in the therapeutic benefits of working with nature."
The project is partnering with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Washing State Department of Corrections and Evergreen State College.
Lange says the program allows him to calm down and focus, and he hopes to take those lessons with him.
“I’d like to take this experience with me and share it with my children.”
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