Sheriff serves Thanksgiving feast to inmates and jail staff — PHOTOS

It’s a question that probably very few would consider or even care about, except for Sheriff Joe McGill and his wife Tammy.

“Joe and I were sitting at home, and we were talking and we decided that we wanted to make sure that everybody in the detention center was going to get a good meal this year,” recalled Tammy about personally purchasing the essentials for a Thanksgiving dinner for the 162 inmates housed at the Nye County Detention Center this past Thursday afternoon.

It may seem counter-intuitive to provide the incarcerated population in the jail with a hearty Thanksgiving dinner, complete with turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, mixed veggies, cranberry sauce, homemade roll and a piece of cake. There is no requirement that prisoners should receive a holiday meal, but there are benefits to keeping the inmate population placated.

“[There’s] Much less disciplinary actions when you have your inmate population that is somewhat pleased. If you’ve got bad conditions in your jail, you’re going to have bad problems. You’re going to have bad activities,” stated McGill. Most importantly, McGill pointed out, it directly impacts the morale and working conditions of the 34 deputies and civilian contractors who work in the jail.

“It’s not our goal to make them [the inmates] want to come back, but we have an obligation to treat them humanly and within the confines of the law,” continued McGill. “They get treated with respect. They’re treated fairly by the deputies.”

Originally, the dinner was intended for the inmate workers. As McGill says, “They do a lot of work in here and they don’t get much for it. They prepare all the food in here for the inmates, and they keep the place clean and maintained.”

They also do all the laundry for the facility added Sgt. Mike Cleveland, who works in the jail.

After considering the idea, the McGills decided that all inmates should have a Thanksgiving dinner. “Why don’t we just do it for all of them?” recalls Sheriff McGill. “So now, everybody’s getting their Thanksgiving dinner.”

Sgt. Cleveland added that the deputies and civilian workers were able to have dinner from the kitchen if they wanted to, but as he stated, “Typically, what we do is we all just do a potluck together. So, me and Sergeant Dubois on the street, put together a potluck for everybody.”

Tammy coordinated a shopping list with the kitchen manager, and the McGills went to Smith’s to buy 10 turkeys, 24 cans of cranberry sauce and 60 pounds of potatoes. “I noticed that the kitchen went ahead and filled it in with some green beans and stuff,” said Tammy.

While the McGills were volunteering to serve and wait tables at the annual Holiday Task Force’s free community Thanksgiving dinner at the NyE Communities Coalition building, the jail’s kitchen staff and inmate workers cooked dinner. Sherifff McGill helped the inmate workers dish up the individual meal trays, and then served them to the inmates. As Tammy stated about the inmates’ reaction to the Thanksgiving meal, “They’re very appreciative.”

As the meals were consumed in silence by the prisoners, it was apparent that it truly was very appreciated.

John Clausen is a freelance reporter living in Pahrump.