Tails of Redemption is a program from the Cook County Sheriff's Office, pairing up inmates at the Cook County Jail with shelter dogs for their mutual benefit. Now they're helping others as therapy dogs.

Sheriff Tom Dart launched the program in 2018. Inmates are taught to train shelter dogs in basic obedience.

"They get to see a dog that is abandoned, neglected or otherwise at the shelter. They get to put the time into those dogs. Whether it be bathing, feeding or watering the dog, playing with the dog," said Jerry Roman, program director.

For the past couple of months, the program has been coming to the Cook County Domestic Violence Courthouse.

Presiding Judge Judith Rice said having the therapy dogs at the courthouse is a win for staff and domestic violence survivors.

"It's hard to come and get an order of protection, do all the paperwork, go before a judge. You may be feeling upset, maybe hurt; to have an animal and come by and greet you, you see the smile on people's faces," she said.

Bringing smiles to people's faces typically doesn't happen in the courthouse, but that's been happening once a month for the past four to five months.

"We're hoping that the dogs, therapy dogs are here to help people relax, to help them bond and to help them know that there are people around them to help them," Rice said.

Hollie, a 7-month-old part-Irish wolfhound, is part of the program, and she still needs to polish up some of her behaviors, but once she's done she will get assigned to a new handler and prepare for her new assignment.

"We want to see what Hollie's going to look like in their space and polish up any issues that we may find, if any. I don't see anything. We didn't find anything besides stealing the fuzzy part of the microphone," Roman said.

Some dogs, like Hollie, will become full-time therapy dogs for police departments across Cook County. Some others are up for adoption.

If you'd like to adopt one of those dogs, you can contact Tails of Redemption on their website or social media accounts.