For almost 30 years, a little-known program inside a Colorado prison quietly helped wild mustangs find new homes – and helped incarcerated men find new purpose.

The wild horse program at a Cañon City correctional facility paired horses rounded up from Western rangelands with incarcerated people who learned to care for, train, and prepare the horses for adoption.

The project helped the Bureau of Land Management protect the wild horses it oversees. In a news release, the Colorado Department of Corrections says it gave inmates “unique vocational and rehabilitative skills.”

But now, the federal government has announced that it will end the program, citing rising costs.

Colorado Sun reporter Jennifer Brown recently wrote about this unusual collaboration. She joined Erin O'Toole to talk about what the program accomplished, and what’s next for Colorado’s wild horses.

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Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole
Executive Producer: Brad Turner

Theme music by Robbie Reverb
Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions
In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.