MDOC opens Mississippi’s first licensed cosmetology school for inmates

The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) has officially opened the state’s first licensed Cosmetology School for inmates.

The Mississippi State Board of Cosmetology traveled to the Delta Correctional Facility (DCF) in Greenwood to cut the ribbon on Monday after spending a year helping to organize an instructional program for female inmates.

Inmates at Delta Correctional Facility in Greenwood invited fellow inmates and program leaders to sit in their cosmetology chairs for demonstrations and consultations of their skills (Photo courtesy of MDOC)

The first class of 28 inmates faced coursework in the science of cosmetology for a year before receiving an official license.

DCF Superintendent Susan Swindle said the inmates have responded enthusiastically toward participating in the program as more than 50 inmates applied for the 28 available positions.

“To join and complete a course like this takes dedication on their behalf,” Swindle said. “Everyone remains excited about the program since it started and the girls are tickled about it.”

Inmate Katrina Gordon described the accomplishment of finishing the program and being more prepared for life after incarceration.

“You have to have the passion to create and the will to keep going when you lose clients and get more,” Gordon said.

Graduates of the new program earn money and leave prison with a license and tools, with cosmetology board officials saying that hardworking graduates can earn six figures within a few years.

“They can walk into any salon across the State of Mississippi, apply for a job, easily walk into that field and just pick up and go,” Sharon Clark, executive director of the Mississippi Board of Cosmetology, said.

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