‘Reminds me that I have a future’: HARP participants decorate for holidays, community members to vote on winner
VENN
CHESTERFIELD COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) -- The holiday season can be a hard time for people behind bars. Men and women in the Helping Addicts Recover Progressively (HARP) program are competing to have the best holiday decor, and for the first time, community members are choosing the winner.
HARP is a volunteer based program, providing therapeutic and educational approaches for inmates struggling with addiction in Chesterfield since 2016.
There’s no scissors and no glue. But the inmates get creative, using just about anything from their lunch bags to toilet paper to toothpaste as glue to deck the pods.
Members of the HARP program decorating for Deck the Pods. (Jakobi Davis, WRIC)
“It’s usually stuff we throw in the trash," said Sheriff Karl Leonard.
Sheriff Leonard put a call out on social media for community members to judge and vote on a winner. The response was overwhelming.
“It just dawned on us that we’re shortchanging them and our community by not letting people see what they’re doing inside of here," he said.
They picked four names out of a bag and let the games begin. The women’s and men’s pod have each won twice in previous years, so it's a big tie-breaking year. Plus, it softens being behind bars for the holidays while they navigate sobriety.
“Seeing all these decorations just reminds me that I have a future, that I'm worthy of it," said Sabrina Malick, a HARP participant.
The women's pod in the HARP program decorated for Deck the Pods. (Jakobi Davis, WRIC)
On the women's side, they started brainstorming their decorations on Thanksgiving. Over in the men’s pod, they’ve been hard at work for the past ten days.
“Without doing this we’d probably be in our cell thinking and just thinking and thinking. But here we get to have smiles, we don’t have hot cocoa but we get to share cups of coffee," said Bo Blevins. He has ten more months to serve, hoping next Christmas he'll be with his six kids in California.
“The work I’m doing here is definitely going to have a big impact on my decision making," he said. "It’s definitely going to help me be grateful and thankful for what I do have and not trying to push the line on my choices and hopefully I make better ones.”
The inmates use any materials they can find to decorate with, this reindeer made out of lunch bags. (Jakobi Davis, WRIC)
Most HARP participants have been incarcerated before, but nothing compares.
“This is the first time I’ve ever been in a situation like this," Craig Fordham said. "I came for the wrong reasons but stayed for all the right reasons.”
Fordham has been in and out of jail from the age of 17 to 30.
"HARP is a whole different entity," he said. "Like when I was in [federal prison], it was like I’m in survival mode. Here it’s peaceful. Like everybody is trying to do different with their life.”
He used to work in construction, so getting to use his hands to make the decorations has given him a sense of purpose.
For Corey Roller, decorating has given her hope for the years to come.
“Christmas was a big thing growing up for me and I wasn't able to be present for it through my addiction," she said. “While we were [decorating] we just laughed and loved each other and supported each other."
While it’s brought each pod closer, there is, of course, the friendly competition.
"The men are sadly mistaken if they think they’re winning," Roller said.
Members of the HARP program decorating for Deck the Pods. (Jakobi Davis, WRIC)
For Sheriff Leonard, letting the community in on what happens inside the gates of the jail just makes sense. But not just for the sake of the community.
“Being incarcerated over the holidays is a very tough time for people," he said. "It’s when we’re on alert for most people that enter that real despondent period of their life.”
The judges will be voting on Thursday, Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. The Chesterfield County Sheriff's Office will then announce the winner on social media.
