Pooches so they can become better parents on outside

these questions, my mom never really was there to show me how to be a woman,” she added. “I want to be there for my kids. I want to be in the now. I want to know what’s going on.”

As an unexpected side benefit, the program helped change the culture at the facility as well, said Louis Molina, first deputy commissioner of the Westchester County Department of Correction.

“This is what real justice looks like in the criminal justice setting. It’s the way the system was supposed to function,” Molina said. “It transitioned the culture of our workforce to move away from a culture that is traditionally about warehousing and punishment and really about rehabilitation.”

About 70% of women at the jail are mothers, many of whom are also victims of domestic abuse, Molina said.

“They’ve [gone through] adverse experiences … that the average person cannot imagine,” he explained. “Our position is to create a safe rehabilitative environment so that people can leave here stronger than when they entered.”

“You need the whole department to sort of come from this mindset,” he added. “Through this program and others, we have been able to achieve that here.”

The privately funded program, which operates on a $25,000 annual budget, has been widely regarded a success. So much so that CollicaCox said she often gets phone calls from correctional facilities and others in the criminal justice community asking how they can start a similar class.

But she said it’s still difficult to secure funding through government grants, many of which want to see how programs like hers work on a much larger scale before dishing out the dough.

“Our funding will be running out next year,” she said. “For this type of work you really need a small-group setting … We’re hoping something good happens so that we can continue this work.”

Mother of four Lisandra Gonzalez, 41, who graduated from the program last month with Cotto and Aponte, said she struggles to control her anger when it comes to disciplining her children. In the past, the losing battle with her emotions left her feeling helpless.

Now she said she’s on track to earn her GED and wants to pursue a college degree.

“When you come to jail, time stops,” said Gonzalez, who is charged with assault. “While we have the opportunity to stand still, we can reflect. You want to leave ready for the world. It’s time to learn how to love yourself again.”

“A lot of us come in here broken,” she said. “We’re putting the little pieces back together.”