Alcatraz East thanks all law enforcement officers & their families for keeping us safe!

To honor them, Alcatraz East hosts the following programs:

________

Highlighting HARP

Helping Addicts Recover Progressively

We are happy to praise HARP: A New Way to Combat Opioid-Related Recidivism, this organization focuses on a prison rehab program in Virginia.

HARP was created in 2016 by Virginia’s Chesterfield County Sheriff Karl Leonard. The program uses innovative therapies like trauma tapping to help inmates with substance use disorders learn new skills, work through past traumas, and transform their lives. It is a mind/body practice that helps to regulate stress and create calm. The program has helped reduce re-offending, and those involved in the HARP program have seen the benefits of this revolutionary rehabilitation technique. The museum’s display will feature information about the program and Sheriff Leonard’s uniform shirt and hat.

HARP also caught the attention of singer-songwriter Jelly Roll, who visited participants of the program and then surprised four of them when he invited them to perform with him in Charlottesville at a concert the same evening. Jelly Roll even covered all the expenses involved, so that it wasn’t paid for by taxpayers. He personally covered the costs of the sheriff’s employees involved in escorting the inmate participants, gas mileage, and more.

“At the Chesterfield County Jail, we believe in recovery, redemption, and certainly rehabilitation. Without judgment of how an individual enters our jail, once entrusted to our care it is our moral obligation to best position that person for successful reintegration back into the community upon release,” said Sheriff Leonard. “If we succeed in rehabilitating the individual, his or her achievement not only benefits them but also our community in many ways, to include reducing the burden on taxpayers to foot the bill for incarceration as a result of the revolving door of recidivism. Our investment in the individuals in our jail pays dividends to our entire community. But none as great as the preservation of life which is our number one goal!”