Maxwell said the dedication to beat the river coupled with a history of growing up and working together in a small community gave area leaders all the confidence they needed to fight off the record flood.

And the river left no time for turf wars among local leaders, Maxwell said.

“I never moved a picture (at my house or office). I knew we were going to win,” Maxwell said.

When Vidalia Mayor Hyram Copeland called Maxwell requesting 200 inmates on the riverfront in 20 minutes, Maxwell delivered.

“If you picked up the phone and called him, whatever issue or problems you had, (Maxwell) would work with you — that (goes for) all the years he’s been in office,” Copeland said.

Maxwell, who often forwards any recognition to his staff, gave credit where credit was due during the flood fight of 2011.

“It always impresses me what (inmates) can do if they’re motivated,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell said the inmates caused zero problems during the weeks they built the Hesco Bastion sand walls around the riverfront properties.

“I got one guy watching 200 inmates, and not one (inmate) walked off,” Maxwell said. “No one complained.”

The flood was not the first time inmates impressed Maxwell.

Work-release program

The CPSO work-release program, educational programs, spiritual programs and addiction rehabilitation programs give inmates every chance to turn their lives around.

“It’s very easy to warehouse people,” Maxwell said. “The challenge is changing their life.”

Early in his tenure as sheriff, Maxwell started the first work-release program in the state run by a local sheriff’s office. Now there are 20 to 25 similar programs in other parishes.

The idea came from a conversation while hunting with a friend, Maxwell said.

“(My friend) was talking about welders. He said they would come (on the job) for 20 days and they’re gone,” Maxwell said. “I told him ‘I have welders locked up, not doing anything.’”

So he decided to fill the need, Maxwell said.

The work-release program started with just five inmates. Now it’s one of the most viable in the state, with approximately 200 participants.

Like the early layoffs and the flood fight, Maxwell said he realized the move to pilot a program like his was a risky one.

“Absolutely, (the program was risky),” Maxwell said. “Every time they didn’t report, I got fried (by employers and the public).”

And when potential employees complained the inmates took jobs from them, Maxwell said he would take the inmates off the job.

“But let’s face it. We live in a generation that doesn’t really want to work — they want a check.”