On July 31st I will end 12 years of public service as the Jailer of Mc Cracken County.  This will also end almost 24 years of being an elected and appointed county official.  I served four years as a Deputy Sheriff under Sheriff Hal Cole and eight years as a Deputy Jailer under Jailer Joe Childs.  I owe a great deal to both Hal and Joe for the confidence they both showed in me and allowing me to participate in county government.
 
As a young boy in the 40’s and 50’s the Saturday afternoon adventure was watching Gene Autry and Roy Rogers movies as they cleaned up the community of the bad guys.  This is where I first dreamed of being in law enforcement.  
 
My first experience with law enforcement came as I became an Air Force policeman and worked in an Air Force jail (stockade) on Long Island New York.   However most of my military service was done at The U. S. Air Force Academy.   I was a member of the first Air Police (now Security Forces) Squadron to be stationed at the academy when it opened in 1958.  
 
To be elected to a public office you have to have a lot of help from a number of people and to hold that office successfully you continue to need the help and support of a lot of people.    I want to thank all the people through the years who have supported me with their prayers and words of encouragement.   I would be unable to mention all of them.     I would like to thank my wife Judy of 47 years.   She has been my strongest critic and supporter through thick and thin.    She has been with me through my military service, my broadcast career, with me in elections that I lost and elections that I won.   She worked by my side when we ran Starnes Lone Oak Bar BQ restaurant for seven years.      I wouldn’t advise anyone to take on the operation of a restaurant or political campaign unless you have a very strong marriage.  
 
The present McCracken County Fiscal Court has been very supportive of my administration.  Judge Executive Danny Orazine was supportive of building the jail when he was a County Commissioner.   His vision and that of County Judge Executive John Harris and County Commissioner Wayne Lindsey is what brought about the building of the present jail.   Special thanks must also be given to Jailer Joe Childs and his son Steve as they oversaw the construction of this facility.  Steve also served as chief of maintenance after the jail opened on August 26th 1990.   In August of 1999 the jail was expanded by 56 beds with the enclosure of two outdoor recreation areas.  The jail now has a rated capacity of 342.   This rated capacity was given to the county in February 2004 when newly appointed Commissioner of Corrections John Rees visited the jail and approved the placing of 60 bunks in ten dayroom areas.    I placed the bunks in the dayrooms in 1995 with the Department of Corrections approval, but in 2001 the DOC issued me an order to take them out.   I refused since it would place 60 inmates on the floor.   The dispute raged with the DOC  for over two years until Commissioner Rees issued his order allowing the jail to keep the dayroom bunks.   
 
 
I would be amiss if I didn’t mention the support and help given to the jail by County Administrator Steve Doolittle.    Steve has been very helpful in explaining the needs of the jail to the fiscal court.   He has also been a good negotiator with the US Department of Justice.
 
There have been many improvements and advances in the jail’s operation in the last 12 years, which has been brought by the efforts of several people including the fiscal court. I will list a few.  
 
Video imaging was available in 1993 but expensive.    Security Telecom an inmate telephone company provided the county with a complete 10-station computer system with video imaging at no cost to the county.    They just wanted the telephone business and they gave the jail a 30 per cent commission on the telephone calls.
 
The jail’s booking computers have been linked to The Sheriff’s Office and Paducah Police allowing both agencies to view the photos of all persons that have been booked in the jail.  Lineups can also be made by the agencies from the 30,000 photos that are on file.  
 
Jailer Joe Childs when building the jail had insisted that a dental treatment room be built in the jail.   The dental room however had not been equipped; this was done in August of 1993.
 
The Class D program was started in August of 1993 and now more than 40 inmates work outside the jail saving the taxpayers thousands of dollars on public work projects in both the city and county.    It would be difficult to operate the jail without the Class Ds who work inside the jail in the kitchen, laundry and maintenance.  
 
Chaplain Stan Durrett came to see me about 2 weeks after taking office and offered his help in establishing a bible study program.   Brother Stan has been with the jail for 12 years and church volunteers conduct weekly bible studies.  Rickman Road Baptist, which is Brother Stan’s church, has been very supportive of the jail’s bible study and chaplain program.     
  
Mental health counseling has been provided to inmates since February of 1999.   Counseling by a mental health professional has been increased from three days to fours days a week.
 
The jail’s two suicide watch cells have been upgraded with corner video cameras which video document the entire cell.   The suicide watch cells and restraint chair cells are video taped 24 hours a day.  
 
The medical department has a doctor and dentist who are part-time employees of the county and a fulltime Physician assistant and two registered nurses.  The two RNs give the jail 7 day a week nursing coverage.  The jail’s medical consultant conducts monthly QA meeting with the medical staff.     Ulrich Medical Concepts has provided the jail with computer software that allows the inmate medical records to be electronically filed.   The doctor is also able to access the records with a computer laptop.
 
 
New kitchen equipment was installed in 1998 and new industrial type washers and dryers were installed in the laundry in 2004.
 
The jail’s website went on line in 1998 and has the photos of the current inmates.  The site averages about 50,000 hits a day or over a million a month.  The website is one thing I would have never dreamed of having when I became Jailer in June 1993.
 
The jail became a non-smoking facility on May 16th, 2005 and there have been few problems.  There have been a number of attempts to slip tobacco products into the jail.  Inmate started fires have decreased  but have continued with inmates thinking a ways of starting fires.  One way has been to remove the wood from a lead pencil and use the graphite to start paper burning with an electrical outlet.  I believe the health of the inmates have improved one example is an inmate before non-smoking required two breathing treatments a day now with non-smoking he is receiving two a week for his respiratory problems.   
 
Changes and improvements will continue to be made.    A jail must continue to evolve if for no other reason than due to the changing technology, which changes almost daily in corrections. .   
 
One negative note the seven-year investigation by The Department of Justice continues and they are coming back.   I think county officials should insist that this federal harassment should end with this next visit.   I feel that the feds main problem with McCracken County is the present Jailer since I debated and questioned their investigation.   
 
I signed a settlement agreement along with the county attorney and county judge executive and did so on the belief that it would end the investigation; it did not.   
 
Let me point out that all contracts that I have signed don’t have to be honored or carried out by the next jailer.  
 
 
Now some comments about the new jailer Bill Adams.       I have known Bill since he was in high school and used to come to the courthouse when his father Wallace Adams and I were in the Sheriff’s office.   I know him to be honest and hard working.   Bill has worked at the jail for 11 years and is the medical supervisor.    This is the same position I held before becoming Jailer.    The medical department is a good training ground for a future Jailer because it is one of the most critical to a jail’s operation.   Eighty per cent of all lawsuits filed against jails contests the medical care of inmates. I feel he will make McCracken County an outstanding jailer one that the citizens can be proud of.   
 
As I leave an office, which I have considered, an honor and a privilege to serve in my prayers and thoughts will continue to be with the county, the jail, the staff and the inmates of this facility.   
Cliff Gill, Jailer
June 4,1993 to August 1, 2005