A couple of years ago, Joe Jones dreamed he worked for Georgetown County, wore a county-employee uniform and drove a county vehicle to pick up work-release inmates for their daily labors. In his dream, a sheriff's department captain shook Jones' hand, congratulating him.
But to make that dream come true, Jones had to get out of jail himself.
Thanks to a special re-entry program at the Georgetown County Detention Center, that's exactly what happened.
Now, the 34-year-old former inmate, who spent eight-and-a-half years locked up for assault with intent to kill, is proud to show inmates that it can be done.
"The main thing is to be patient," the soft-spoken Jones said. "I try to lead by example, to put on a positive attitude no matter what is happening, to show them that you can make the best of any bad situation."
Jones, who now lives in Andrews, and several other "graduates" of the re-entry program attended Sunday's annual 'Family, Friends and Faith' holiday reunion at the jail, spending a chilly afternoon with current inmates and their families, jail officials, Sheriff Lane Cribb and Debbie Barr, a woman the inmates think of as their angel.
Barr started the re-entry program about four years ago at Cribb's request. She takes 25 to 30 inmates at a time, men who are state prisoners but are deemed eligible to come to the Georgetown County by the state Department of Corrections. She starts preparing them for life on the outside long before they are up for release.
"We want to give them a little self-esteem and help them so they can get jobs when they come out," Cribb said. "We don't want to just turn them loose. Rehabilitation is what prison is supposed to be about."
At first, Cribb received grants to pay Barr and a mental health counselor, but those funds have been cut and now he pays Barr out of the jail budget.
"If it wasn't for Debbie, I wouldn't have this program," Cribb said.
Inmates have to apply for the program, but Barr said as long as she has room, she'll admit them. They remain locked up, but spend part of each day learning - life skills, a trade, to earn their high school equivalency certificates, whatever they are going to need to make a new start, including taking online college courses.
The inmates begin the process of looking for jobs and apartments, meeting potential employers, learning how to handle money, function outside jail and make better decisions.
Barr gets to know their families and helps the inmates work on family issues.
Reunions and visitation days like Sunday's are part of that process. Some of the men have relationships to repair, and some have to learn how to let go of old situations.
Fathers get to see their kids in a less intimidating environment than from behind bars or behind a Plexiglas window, and, for the holidays, local churches and volunteers bring hundreds of wrapped gifts for the inmates' children. There's Christmas caroling and a holiday dinner that smells much better than you might expect at a jail.
Barr shows the men there are people who care and will stand by them. "You believe in us when no one else does," one inmate wrote in a Christmas card to Barr.
"To me, you are an angel that has come to take our castaway souls back to redemption," another wrote.
Cynics might say these inmates are just saying what they think people want to hear.
But so far, Cribb said, not a single man who has graduated from the program has returned to jail as an inmate.
"My eyes are wide open now," said former inmate John Smith, 30, who now lives in Myrtle Beach. "It's not all about me. It's about choices."
Smith has been part of the re-entry program for the past two of his four years and three months in lockup. He went to prison for possession of drugs with intent to distribute. Smith said he had some family issues, didn't graduate from high school, and decided to apply for the re-entry program to learn some skills such as welding.
He is now a landscaper and would like to go back to school and own his own business some day. "The American Dream, right?" he said with a smile.
Once an inmate gets out of jail, it would seem like he'd never voluntarily visit again.
But on Sunday, Jones, Smith and several others who had been through the program were happy to come back and show the current inmates what success looks like.
"Sheriff Cribb and Miss Barr have something really special here," Smith said. "I came to show these guys that there's so much more than just being in here.
"If I wanted to, I could make bad choices. There are times when it would be easy to throw in the towel. But it feels so much better to do the right thing. My whole life is different now."
Jones agreed. He was 23 when he got in trouble and 32 when he was released from jail. In the year and a half since, he has found a relationship and works full time while his girlfriend attends nursing classes. He's thinking about being a father and getting married, and he continues to learn.
Jones said his goal is to retire from the county - not a dream he ever had in his old life.
"I was working, but I was partying a lot, too," he said. "I didn't know what I was doing."
Jones has been inspired to learn how to cook, and said he likes watching his family enjoy the meals he prepares.
And like the other graduates, Jones keeps in contact with Barr, who checks in on his progress consistently to make sure he continues to move forward instead of slipping back.
"The follow-up tells us the whole story," Cribb said. "It shows us what we're doing right and what we're doing wrong. There are some people you can't do anything for, but the ones who come to this program, they just need a little help. That's all they need."
