In prison for decades, one juvenile lifer’s quest for redemption
MACOMB CORRECTIONAL FACILITY – As Bosie Smith sat in a prison visiting area, nothing lit up his face like the subject of his rescue dogs.
“All the way around, that was one of the things that drove me to the program, that I would be able to make a difference in their lives. My story is their story.”
A few years ago, Smith was one of a few inmates selected to take part in a greyhound rescue program at Lakeland Correctional Facility southeast of Kalamazoo. In his two-plus years with the program, he took 24-hour care of greyhounds – refugees of the dog track; training and socializing them so they could be adopted by approved families. His work with the animals won praise from the warden herself.
The dogs often came to him skittish, fearful, nervous around strangers. When they left after 90 days, they were ready for the outside world.
