Today Professor Dr. Roman Poseck, the Hessian Minister of Justice, was a guest at the Gelnhausen youth detention centre. In addition to political companions of the minister such as Max Schad and Michael Reul – both members of the CDU in the Hessian state parliament, the district board of Bündnis 90/Die Grünen was on site by spokeswoman Maria Heider.
We experienced an exciting project. Mr. Scheuermann, head of the JVA and Mrs. Simon von SimonsPETchwork, explained and showed the work with dogs and juvenile offenders. Ms Simon’s four trained rescue and therapy dogs are used as ‘icebreakers for the rehabilitation of juvenile offenders’. And Mr Scheuermann added that “when working with the dogs, you don’t realize that sometimes the guys outside have hard social problems”.
On average 14 days, rarely up to four weeks, the adolescents ‘sit’ in the JVA. During this time they are intensively pedagogically supervised, have sports, school, theater and also the opportunity to work with the dogs.
Two of the boys also showed us how they guide the dogs through a course with bravura and lovingly care for them with treats, water and caresses. Despite the labbi-like flippancy, the dogs were completely relaxed in the face of all the press hustle and bustle, cameras and people. Hats off to the dogs and the boys.
Professor Poseck was also very impressed by this great work and praised the initiative as a model for other youth detention facilities in the country. Let us hope that this project and many other small building blocks for care and rehabilitation will open up new perspectives for young people for a life after prison. Who knows, maybe one or the other dog from animal welfare will find a new home with them. Take a look at our little film.
English (UK)