Veterans In Connecticut Prison Getting Help From Horses

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ENFIELD, Conn. (AP) — A group of Connecticut prisoners is learning to cope with issues such as post-traumatic stress by interacting with horses.

The equine-assisted psychotherapy program is offered in a special Department of Correction unit for military veterans at the Willard-Cybulski Correctional Institution in Enfield.

Daniel Elliot, who suffered a brain injury while in the Navy, is serving time for an arson he committed while trying to kill himself inside his Norwich apartment.

Elliot says the program, run at no charge to the state by the group Healing Hoofbeats, calms him, has helped him open up about his problems and gives him something to look forward to each week.

Elliot is one of six inmates participating in the pilot program, which Correction Commissioner Rollin Cook says he hopes to expand to other prisons.