In Ohio, across multiple state correctional facilities, inmates are rehabilitating themselves by rehabilitating others: specifically the most fragile and vulnerable of others: injured or orphaned animals.

Tiny birds—victims of a fall from the nest, baby rabbits orphaned by the wheels of a Ford, or little opossums lost when their mother took off at the first sign of danger—they all need a helping hand and careful attention if they’re going to make it back to the woods or the fields.

At Marion and Richland Correctional Institutions, and the Ohio Reformatory for Women, the Ohio Wildlife Center trains interested inmates on how to feed and care for wounded or abandoned wild animals.

Housed in special aviaries or even inside cages within prisoners’ cells, it gives them someone to care for,

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