Idaho Matters Goes To Prison: From Cats To Inmate Emotions

By Samantha Wright

Published December 28, 2018 at 11:32 AM MST

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Meet Kimba, a very fat cat getting care at the South Boise Women's Correctional Center.

Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio

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Meet Kimba, a very fat cat getting care at the South Boise Women's Correctional Center.

Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio

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Gemma meets one of the Brady Bunch, a trio of kittens nursed back to health by inmates at the South Boise Correctional Center.

Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio

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Gemma meets one of the Brady Bunch, a trio of kittens nursed back to health by inmates at the South Boise Correctional Center.

Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio

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The rest of the Brady Bunch kittens climb on one of the women at the South Boise Women's Correctional Center.

Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio

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The rest of the Brady Bunch kittens climb on one of the women at the South Boise Women's Correctional Center.

Samantha Wright / Boise State Public Radio

Originally broadcast October 25, 2018.

The South Boise Women's Correctional Center has some very unique programs designed to help the women there learn job skills and other qualities like leadership and responsibility. One of those is the Whiskers Program, a collaboration with the Idaho Humane Society where inmates take care of sick and neglected cats and kittens.

We talk with Stephanie Mark, who's been at the prison since May. She's the Cat Coordinator. She starts out talking about the Whiskers Program and then the conversation takes a turn toward some very serious subjects.

Idaho Matters Goes To Prison: From Cats To Inmate Emotions

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