When Victor Fontanez, better known online as VicBlends, first walked into Valley State Prison in Chowchilla, California, he had no idea he would return four years later to cut the ribbon on the first licensed barber school in a California state prison.
He went in at the invitation of longtime mentor and prison reform advocate Scott Budnick, founder of the Anti-Recidivism Coalition. The visit changed him. “I had no idea that this was something I wanted to do,” Fontanez said. “But, I have empathy for others. And I don’t question God’s plan. I don’t question the places that he places me in.”
What he found inside were men eager to change, fighting for a second chance. Budnick told him no prison in California had ever opened an in-prison barber school and promised to support him if he wanted to make it happen. “We made a promise that day to put our best foot forward and knock this out,” Fontanez recalled. “Here we are four years later, cutting the ribbon.”
The goal of VicBlends Academy goes beyond a skillset
The VicBlends Academy launched on August 6 with dozens of incarcerated students already enrolled, according to the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation. The school offers daily classes and will deliver over 100 haircuts each week. The program is designed to ensure students leave with a state barber license in hand, making them employable upon release…