Where Jail Has No Bars

At one Idaho correctional facility, guards love coming to work, inmates are encouraged to succeed, and the result is a jail that looks nothing like the ones on TV.

Illustrations by Vinnie Neuberg

“Six months after I became sheriff, the most dangerous inmate in the jail escaped and was gone for 10 days,” says former Sheriff Gary Raney. “It was a big wake-up call and I realized we’d gotten complacent. We needed big changes.” In law enforcement for 31 years and sheriff of Ada County, Idaho, for ten, Gary Raney looks the part: 6’3”, with thick dark brown hair and posture that shames others into standing up straight. But he also smiles more than you might expect a sheriff to, and he admits mistakes. After the escape, Raney and his staff revamped the Idaho jail’s mission and culture to focus on four specific goals: safety of staff, security of the facility, well-being of inmates, and meeting/exceeding stakeholder expectations. The sheriff’s office also encourages staff members to find creative ways to get things done. One sergeant, wanting to enhance staff safety, asked his deputies to “think like inmates.” He gave his deputies the same items that each…