CANDIDATES FOR JAILER Sean Williams and incumbent Michele Rankin participated in Monday’s Woodford County Candidate Forum at Midway University. (Photo by Bob Vlach)
By Bob Vlach
Woodford Sun Staff
Candidates for Woodford County Jailer, incumbent Michele Rankin and Sean Williams, touted their experience while offering differing views on corrections during the Woodford County Candidate Forum on Monday, Sept. 14 at Midway University’s Duthie Auditorium.
In corrections, “mental health is the biggest obstacle that we’re facing,” said Rankin. “There’s just not enough help out there for people that come in (to our jail) that have mental health issues.”
If elected, Williams said he would change how programs that have been offered at the Woodford County Detention Center (WCDC) for many years are being run by providing more transparency and strengthening what is being offered. He said, “It needs better leadership.”
Rankin said she would let her record as jailer speak for itself after touting some amazing volunteer educators who come to the jail to help inmates earn GEDs. She also said the WCDC focuses on providing services that will help inmates become better fathers, sons and daughters when they are released.
As jailer, Williams said he will bring transparency so local taxpayers will know how their tax dollars are being spent.
Rankin said over the last 16 years, “I’m probably the most frugal person,” when it comes to spending money as jailer.
On the topic of community service inmates working outside of the jail, Rankin said they save Woodford County over $1 million annually in intangibles. Inmates are paid 63 cents a day and have time taken off their sentences for community service work, she said. She said agencies that use community service, such as Parks and Recreation, the Road Department and Food Pantry for Woodford County, must have training and sign off that they will be responsible for watching the inmates. Again, she said, “My track record speaks for itself. I’ve had one walk-away in 16 years.”
Williams agreed that there are many benefits to having a community service work program for inmates if they are “done safely and responsibly.”
In response to Rankin saying her record speaks for itself, Williams said he and his wife were at the Versailles Twilight Festival when they watched an inmate go down an alley and stay there for three minutes. “What was he doing within his time? There’s no oversight. There’s no accountability. And there’s no transparency,” he said. “…So respectfully, to say your track record speaks for itself … I see different. I see it way different.”
“My track record does speak for itself,” said Rankin. “And I’m very aware of the inmates that were out at the Twilight Festival … There were actually several I was supervising myself while their supervisors were close. And every time I saw them, I said, ‘Where is your supervisor?’”
In his opening remarks, Williams said he’s spent more than 20 years in public service – law enforcement, corrections, including nearly a decade at the WCDC – and currently he works with Homeland Security. In stressing the importance of being transparent, he said, “A lot of people in Woodford County don’t even realize there is a jail.”
Rankin said she was honored to be the first female jailer in Woodford County, and said the number of inmates at the WCDC has grown from 60 in 2010 to 113 state, federal and county inmates today.
“I love what I do,” Rankin said in her closing remarks. She lauded her amazing team who “work really hard every day,” while sacrificing time with their families, before adding. “I’ve seen so many lives changed as a result of things we’ve done.”
“As your next jailer,” Williams said in his closing remarks, “I promise that there will be complete transparency. I want the community to come to me if you have any questions regarding inmates or anything,” before talking about other occasions when community service inmates were not being supervised.