Commissioners encourage jail-dog program

Sheriff Ted Jackson wants to put dogs in the county jail, and Fulton commissioners have lent their support. It's another program to help rehabilitate inmates and, hopefully, reduce recidivism in a jail that being monitored by a federal judge because of overcrowding.

The sheriff's jail-dog initiative would have inmates grooming, training and caring for unwanted dogs. The Gwinnett jail already has such a program. The hope is to instill compassion and empathy in detainees, along with a skill, and make the dogs more likely to be adopted.