Barber training through Chesterfield County Jail's HARP program inspires inmate on eve of release

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. —

MIDLOTHIAN, Va. — An impromptu barbershop in central Chesterfield has plenty of customers. But you probably won't be able to get a chair. That is, unless you're on the inside, like Amin Wright.

Earlier this week, electric razors were buzzing with apprentice barbers practicing their skills.

"This time is going to be different because the way I thought before, I just wasn't ready," said Wright. "And this time I've actually worked on myself."

Wright is an inmate at the Chesterfield County Jail who is part of the jail's addiction recovery program called HARP, or Helping Addicts Recover Progressively.

On this day, he was learning to cut hair, one of the many job training programs HARP and the jail offer.

It's one that could lead to a job on the outside.

"I get so much out of it. I learned so much," Wright said. "I've learned more about myself here than I have in any other treatment center. The program stands out."

"Why not best prepare them for successful reintegration to become the productive members of society that they all want to be?" asked Sheriff Karl Leonard. "We try to do that here by giving them all these job skills."

Leonard listed all the different training programs available at the jail: horticulture, food services, roofing, logistics, peer recovery, even forklift training.

Leonard has welcomed HARP's innovative approach to helping addicts recover, including using using music and tapping, so they don't end up back in the jail he oversees. But this time, he's put himself in the hot seat.

As Wright hunched over, electric shears in hand, Leonard had a question for him.

"Did you ever think you would cut the sheriff's hair, Cali?" he asked, using Wright's nickname, because he comes from California.

"No, I never thought it." Wright responded, laughing and shaking his head.

Leonard says the inmates working through HARP's intensive therapies have earned his trust, so much so, that they can get very close with some very sharp instruments.

"This is a scene never before seen in jails: an active inmate holding scissors to the sheriff's neck," Leonard said.

"This is crazy," Wright added, laughing.

"Everybody deserves a second chance," said Bruce Caskinette, who was watching the potential future barbers closely. "You know, guys go to jail, they get out, they have nothing. Nobody wants to hire them. They have nothing to look forward to. No skill."

Caskinette, who owns the Fine Line Barbershop in the Deer Run Village Shopping Center in Midlothian, has been lending his expertise to the inmates every week for the past year.

He insists it's no big deal, that's it what god has called him to do.

"More people should help out," said Caskinette. "I feel like every single person on this planet is lost at some point, and we just gotta help find them.

Sheriff Leonard agrees, with a message for every potential employer out there.

"What you'll find with employees coming out of the jail, are people who are not going to take that job for granted. They're going to be committed and dedicated to that job," said Leonard. "They're going to give you 100%. And they're going to be some of your best employees."

And one particular inmate is hoping at least one employer might be listening: Amin Wright walked out of the Chesterfield County Jail Thursday morning into civilian life.

"What are your parents going to say a year from now?" I asked him.

"They're going to be proud," he said. "They've always been supportive of me, even through my addiction and stuff. And they just want to see me succeed and just live a normal life."

Wright says he will be staying with his parents and visiting the HARP program therapy sessions regularly- at least until he gets a full-time job.

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