Colorado’s East Cañon City Correctional Complex, two hours southeast of Denver, encompasses seven different prisons, from maximum-security lock-down to a minimum women’s facility. Located in the high desert shadow of the Southern Front Range, near the Arkansas River, it could easily be a desolate place, but behind the fencing, there’s plenty of company, of the four-footed kind. The Complex is home to the landmark Colorado Correctional Industries (CCI) goat dairy, where qualified, trained inmates from the minimum-security Skyline Correctional Center involve themselves in every aspect of the animals’ care, from birthing to milking parlor. At the 1,100 goat dairy, which has been operating since 2008, all of the milk produced goes to Boulder County’s Haystack Mountain goat cheese, over 100 miles north, except for a small amount that goes to supplement Jumpin’ Good Goat Dairy, in Buena Vista, near Cañon City. The prison dairy was established as a joint venture between Haystack and CCI, after Haystack founder Jim Schott retired and sold his farmstead operation. CCI director Steve Smith contacted Haystack’s then-new president/general manager Chuck Hellmer with a proposal. If Haystack could provide a guaranteed year-round outlet for the milk (about 1 million pounds, annually), Smith would build a dairy and staff it with Skyline inmate employees (the application process is rigorous, requires a high school diploma or GED, and a good prison record/program compliancy.) Currently, out of 20,000 inmates in the state, there are only 2,000 CCI jobs available, so the waiting list is a long one. The result of the joint venture has been an astounding success, a symbiotic partnership that provides Haystack with a high quality, consistent milk source, and inmates such as Juan Figueroa, 33, a new lease on life. Says Figueroa, who works as part of a six-man team in the milking parlor, eight hours a day, “I really enjoy working with animals, especially goats. They’re not dumb, the way a lot of people assume, and I like them because they’re humble.” He recently applied for an apprenticeship in dairy technology. The inmates from the Four-Mile Correctional Facility at East Cañon operate a water buffalo and cow dairy; the 120 head of Trinidadian buffalo are a new addition, established in May of 2012. Their milk supplies a large mozzarella factory in Denver. The Holstein dairy supplies rBST-free milk for both the prisons and retail market, under the brand name Juniper Valley. Thanks to the entrepreneurial savvy of Smith, CCI operates 55 programs, from making exquisite bamboo fishing rods and operating a vineyard and tilapia farm, to training service dogs. All profits generated from CCI stay within the organization, and are used to create new business venture and to purchase necessary equipment. Written by Laurel Miller Photographed by Barry Staver