‘A sense of freedom’ as Unanderra inmates join community projects

But the shelter’s all-female staff has meant the dogs are sometimes ill-prepared for life on the outside, says volunteer Ruth Brooks. 

“The dogs are only ever handled by women, so they get used to women, they like women, they behave for women – then they see men and they go, ‘oh no, I’m going to die’,” she said. 

“We’ve had dogs adopted and then sent back because they couldn’t live with the husband. 

“So it’s immensely valuable to have men working with them so that they can learn that men are nice too.” 

Help on this front has arrived in an unlikely form. 

Inmates from the Illawarra Reintegration Centre at Unanderra now visit the shelter five days a week, carrying out repairs and maintenance and helping to exercise and socialise the animals. 

The work is reserved for minimum-security inmates who are approaching the end of their sentences, like Haysam, who is due for release in December. 

After almost two years behind bars, the shelter is a welcome distraction, he says. 

“Jail’s pretty boring,” he said. You’ve just got to get yourself in a routine. You’ve got to do something.” 

“I love going out to work. Weeks fly by. 

“It’s a good day out – a sense of freedom.

“I’m going to get a dog when I get out.”   

The men work six hours a day, for a weekly wage of $33.64. Haysam says his wage mostly goes on noodles, tuna, rice and using the prison telephone. 

Each weekday, two buses carrying about nine inmates each depart the Lady Penrhyn Drive jail for projects at the shelter and other sites - Tarrawanna Soccer Club, Mount Keira Scout Camp, Girl Guide Halls, Warrigal Employment and Killalea State Park. 

Corrective Services NSW community projects senior overseer Mark Gallagher says he sees a change in the men as they leave the jail each day. 

“You notice it when they come out and get on the bus - they relax,” he said. “They’re not sitting in the yard, twiddling their thumbs. It [the yard] is like any place where there’s a lot of people – there’s politics. The chance to get away from that politics is a benefit as well.” 

Twelve inmates have completed the Open Paws program in the past six months. 

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The men have also carried out pressure cleaning, painting and land clearing – jobs that would otherwise have come at a hefty cost for the not-for-profit, said shelter manager Judith Wright.

“We either paid for it, or it just didn’t get done,” she said.  

“They’ve painted all of the sun shades and screens around the kennels. We did get a quote to do that and it was astronomical, and so we kind of decided to put that off. 

“We’ve tried to keep it to a standard where it’s a welcome place for people to visit, because so many people say ‘I don’t want to go to a shelter, I just can’t stand to see the animals there’. 

“Many of these animals and men share a common bond – having come from difficult backgrounds – so this program gives them the opportunity to heal together and learn from one another. 

“It’s win-win.”