(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, the board may issue special certificates of registration as an apprentice barber to an inmate in the custody of the State Department of Corrections who:

1. (1) complies with Section 40-7-230(B), having completed the required number of hours in a barber school or college approved by the board; and

2. (2) has been sentenced:

   1. (a) under the Youthful Offender Act and has served at least nine months of the sentence; or
   2. (b) to a determinant sentence and is eligible for release or parole consideration within one hundred twenty days.