Skip to main content
Sunday, November 15, 2026Nov 15
Subscribe
All Sections
Search
More

‘They’re a lot like us’: Program pairs inmates, wild horses

In this Sept. 9, 2016, photo, inmate Chris Culcasi spends a few moments with Zephyr, at the end of a training day at 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)
In this Sept. 9, 2016, photo, inmate Chris Culcasi spends a few moments with Zephyr, at the end of a training day at 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)

By Associated Press 3 min read

ELK GROVE, Calif. (AP) – Jail inmates and wild horses are helping each other learn to adapt through a California program aimed at preparing both for society.

Inmates at Rio Cosumnes Correctional Center in rural Elk Grove spend 40 hours a week training mustangs that federal land managers gather from overpopulated areas in 10 Western states.

The training program south of Sacramento is one of six nationwide, with the others at the federal level. Sacramento County officials say theirs is the first within a local correctional facility.

The inmates see themselves in the horses as they both learn valuable lessons and skills.

“They’re a lot like us,” said Christopher Robert Culcasi, 40, who is serving a two-year sentence for auto theft. “You take them from the wild, you herd them up, throw them in holding facilities, take them away from what they know – everything they know – and then ask them to comply. You know, that’s a lot of what we’re going through here.”