The big (cat) house

Whoever came up with the idea of taking stray dogs into prison was brilliant -- it helps the dogs and can give the inmates an idea of what it's like to be a responsible human being. But now they're trying the same thing with cats, and I'm not so sure about that one:

Schlusser and his fellow offenders work in eight-hour shifts caring for 59 cats who entered the facility on June 22.

Maleah Stringer, director of Animal Care and Control in Anderson, is in charge of the prison pet program and said all 59 cats were up for adoption.

It's up to Schlusser and other inmates to care for the animals and socialize with them so that the animals are ready to be taken into permanent homes.

So they're going to "socialize" the cats -- I'd like to see that. What's likely to happen is that the inmates will care for the cats, look after their every need, give in to their every demand and whim, and what they'll get in return is, "OK, but what have you done for me in the last 10 seconds?" Encountering such an attitude likely contributed to why many of the men became inmates in the first place.