RANKIN COUNTY – The Mississippi Department of Corrections celebrated the opening of a new barber college Wednesday at the Central Mississippi Correctional Facility.
The program will allow incarcerated individuals to learn barbering while serving their sentences.
MDOC officials celebrated the opening alongside two inmate instructors, two student instructors, 22 students, family members of some inmates and other guests.
Central Mississippi Correctional Facility Superintendent Matt Reynolds said the program is designed to give inmates job skills they can use after release.
“This program gives us the opportunity for these men to have jobs when they go home to stop the recidivism rate,” Reynolds said. “It gives them hope. It gives them a chance.”
Program manager Richard Thompson said approval from the Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology and Barbering took only minutes, but the full process took about two years of work and included several obstacles.
Warden George King, who directs vocational programs for MDOC, said the program has the potential to change lives.
“This is one of the cornerstones where guys can go right out and impact the community and impact lives,” King said. “How many of y’all get a haircut? A lot of lives have been changed in the barbershop.”
The Central Mississippi Correctional Facility program brings the number of MDOC barber schools to two. The other program is at the Marshall County Correctional Facility.
MDOC officials also discussed plans for future programs, including a nail program for women, additional barber programs at other facilities, including the Mississippi State Penitentiary at Parchman, and efforts to help more inmates become licensed.
Deputy Commissioner of Institutions John Hunt said Commissioner Burl Cain’s administration remains focused on moral rehabilitation, vocational training and education to better prepare inmates for returning to their communities.
“Commissioner Cain knew he had to change the culture,” Hunt said. “That’s a tall order for a department this size, especially with the overall nature of this business. But with his leadership and buy-in from staff and inmates, I think we have achieved that goal. We have changed the culture. We still have a long way to go, but the culture has changed within the MDOC.”
