People held in a Columbus jail are drawing the dogs at the county shelter. The portraits hang on the dogs’ kennels.
The Franklin County Dog Shelter in Columbus, Ohio, often has 200 to 300 dogs. Since September, people held at the county jail have drawn 20 of them. Each drawing hangs on the dog’s kennel, then goes home with whoever adopts it.
18 October 2026
Photo: Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center, via NBC4
Walk past the kennels at the Franklin County Dog Shelter in Columbus right now and some of them have a drawing taped to the glass. The artists are people being held at the county jail.
The shelter calls it Portraits with a Purpose, and it runs it with the Franklin County Sheriff’s Office. Someone at the jail picks a dog and draws it. The drawing goes up on that dog’s kennel, and when the dog gets adopted, the drawing goes home with it.
How it started
It started with a jail employee. A couple of months ago they got in touch with the shelter to say people inside wanted to help the dogs, Erin Hamill told NBC4. Hamill does the shelter’s marketing.
The first drawings came in September, and there are 20 now. Each artist picks “whichever dog they feel connected to,” Hamill said. Some draw in pencil and some in coloured pencil.
Photo: Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center, via NBC4
About the artist
The artists aren’t named. Instead, next to each drawing is a sheet called About the Artist, where they answer a few questions about themselves and dogs.
One of them drew a white and brown dog sitting in the grass. Under “What inspired you,” they wrote:
I saw that the dogs needed help and I’m trying to spend the rest of my life giving more than taking.From the artist’s sheet on the kennel
Asked what they hope people feel when they see the drawing, the same artist wrote: “My heart and soul that I put into these drawings.”
Another drew Harlow, in pencil. The card on her kennel says she’s a year and seven months old, a big mixed breed, and shy. Her artist wrote that drawing “is therapeutic to me and I’m still learning as I go.” They’re sticking to pencil for now, but want to try “other methods besides graphite.”
Photo: Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center, via NBC4
Why it helps
The shelter often has 200 to 300 dogs, which is a lot of faces to walk past. Hamill hopes a drawing makes people stop at one of them.
Having these portraits on the front of their cages gives people visiting an opportunity to stop to really look at this, read through it and maybe make a connection with that dog that they may otherwise have just walked by.Erin Hamill, Franklin County Dog Shelter, to NBC4
Photo: Franklin County Dog Shelter and Adoption Center, via NBC4
Sheriff Dallas Baldwin said in a statement that it’s “about more than drawing pictures.”
It reminds inmates that they can still make a positive impact in the community, even while they’re in jail. We hope that’s something they can carry with them when they leave.Dallas Baldwin, Franklin County Sheriff
Hamill said people have been “overwhelmingly positive” about it so far. The shelter hasn’t said yet whether any of the dogs in the drawings have gone home.
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