In this Nov. 2, 2016, photo, inmate Eric Sheridan gallops Lone Star, a horse in training at the Wild Horse Program at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, Calif. Inmates spend 40 hours a week training mustangs provided by the federal Bureau of Land Management.(AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The Associated Press
ELK GROVE, Calif. (AP) - Jail inmates and wild horses are helping each other through a California program aimed at preparing both for society.
Inmates at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center spend 40 hours a week training mustangs provided by the federal Bureau of Land Management.
Officials say the training program is one of six nationwide, but the first within a local correctional facility.
The inmates say they see a reflection of themselves in the horses. Both are learning valuable lessons and skills.
The program is auctioning off five saddle-trained horses Dec. 10 under the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department program that began in 2014.
Inmates volunteer and must be approved by a correctional panel before they are allowed to work with the horses outside the jail's barbed-wire fences.
In this Nov. 2, 2016, photo, retired Sacramento County Sheriff Thomas Neri keeps an eye on inmates working at the Wild Horse Program run at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, Calif. Inmates spend 40 hours a week training mustangs provided by the federal Bureau of Land Management. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The Associated Press
In this July 15, 2016, photo, inmate Ron Gitchell, right, receives congratulations from fellow inmate Dax Poplawski after passing a training test at the Wild Horse Program run at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, Calif. Once-wild horses and unbridled jail inmates are helping each other through the program aimed at preparing both for society. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The Associated Press
In this Nov. 2, 2016, photo, inmate Dax PopLawski washes Sonora after a workout at the Wild Horse Program run at the Sacramento County Sheriff's Department's Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in Elk Grove, Calif. Inmates spend 40 hours a week training mustangs provided by the federal Bureau of Land Management. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
The Associated Press