LEXINGTON, Va. – Sometimes, life is about second chances.
A program at the Rockbridge Regional Jail is aimed at helping those who are looking to turn their lives around.
Thomas Whitlock is teaching a welding course at the Rockbridge Regional Jail, a skill Whitlock hopes to teach other incarcerated people.
“I took so many years and did so much wrong, well now I want to give back,” Whitlock said.
Whitlock wants to help others get their life on track because he knows about life’s trials.
“I did eight years of my life in and out of jail, several rehabs, overdosed a couple times,” Whitlock said.
Rockbridge Regional Jail Supervisor Derek Almarode says the trades program started because of maintenance needs around the jail, that Whitlock was able to handle.
“We saw his skill sets,” Almarode said.
They’ve changed maintenance closets into offices with fine furniture and upgraded some rain gutters to water plants, and they’ve even upgraded the jail’s washing room.
“Once we identified those needs we have a small external shop area in the maintenance building, and we built a program that would allow us to be self-sufficient,” Almarode said.
Almarode says the trades program was officially certified in January of last year and incarcerated people are able to learn welding, landscaping, and carpentry.
One goal of the trades program is to address recidivism.
“This is could helpful retooling inmates with another trade or craft where they are marketable once they are released from incarceration, especially non-violent inmates,” Almarode said. “It’s exciting because I have seen what it has done over the past seven years for the trustees who were engaged in the program.”
Officials with the Rockbridge Regional Jail say the trades program is expected to start early or mid-summer.