ATLANTA — It's graduation day in Atlanta for a new program in the metro area that helps rehabilitate men bound for prison.
Canine Cellmates usually works with inmates to train dogs while they're still incarcerated, but this new program tries to reach them before they get to jail.
It's taking the courts, public defenders, and district attorneys all working together to make it happen.
When a group of the men walked through the doors of a Canine Cellmates training facility 90 days ago, they could have been walking in to a prison cell, but dogs and this new program gave them a second chance.
"Hey, how ya'll doing. I'm Reynell Keith. This is my dog, Rio," he told a crowd of men.
Reynell Keith is learning to have patience with his dog, Rio, and with himself.
"It was my first felony and I felt like I just threw away my life," he said.
Keith was looking at years in prison. A first time offender, he was accused of two felonies when he went before a judge.
"Some people make bad mistakes, but we are not bad people. We just made mistakes," he said.
He has a 5-year-old son and a family. He said he couldn't stop thinking about everything he was about to lose.
"I was just sitting there, alone and I didn't know when I was going home. That's the worst feeling. Your son asking you, 'When are you coming home?' And you don't know. And thanks to this program, I am going home," Keith said.
Keith's public defender was able to get him into the first cycle of the Canine Cellmates Alternate Diversion Program.
"If they are first offenders, not only does the arrest go away, but the rest of their record is wiped as well, so it's a clean slate," said Susan Jacobs-Meadows, Executive Director of Beyond the Bars.
She said they pull dogs unlikely to be adopted from local shelters and then pair them up with men who would have been facing serious jail time.
"It doesn't come without a price, it's a big commitment," Jacobs-Meadows said.
The men and the dogs work together for a year and learn to trust each other and themselves. Once the dogs are trained, the program helps find families to adopt them.
Beyond the training, the men take courses in fatherhood, self control, and anger management.
"It's going to look a lot better. I can provide the life I want to provide for my son, so he doesn't have to grow up the way I had to grow up," she said.
The goal of the program isn't just to avoid jail time. It's meant to give them their lives back.
"I am so thankful for this program," said Keith.
The program is taking on the next group starting Jan. 10th. While it's new to Atlanta, similar programs have proven effective in other states.