And Maxwell found that making the work-release program accessible to nonviolent offenders had the ability to change the inmates’ lives motivationally speaking, and practically.

“A lot of these guys, when they get out, they keep working at the job they have.”

Rehabilitation programs

Rehabilitation programs, including drug and alcohol programs, GED classes and faith-based programs also help change inmates’ lives, Maxwell said.

“We have some mean people (in jail) — some evil people — but that’s not the majority,” Maxwell said.

Maxwell said what people sometimes don’t realize is that many of the offenders may have been steered down the wrong path, grown up without a family and never heard “I love you.”

But when given a chance to thrive and some expectations, “they always impress me,” Maxwell said.

One situation sticks in Maxwell’s mind.

Years ago, Maxwell said he was visiting his mother in the hospital in Monroe, and a hospital staff member kept checking in on them.

Eventually the staff member confronted Maxwell.

“‘You don’t remember me, do you?’” Maxwell said he was asked.

As it turned out, the staffer was in jail three years at a parish correctional facility, was rehabilitated through various programs, turned his life around, went to school and became a respiratory therapist. He pledged to watch over Maxwell’s mother and even introduced Maxwell’s family to his wife and newborn baby.

“It was a very humbling experience,” Maxwell said. “Just to realize all the stuff you do and try (works) — and you really knocked a home run with this kid.”

But, perhaps even more importantly, rehabilitation also serves a practical purpose.

When Maxwell first took office as interim sheriff in 1990 and was elected in 1991, the rate of inmates who returned to jail through a “revolving door” within six months was 73 percent.

“That’s foolish,” Maxwell said, adding that it costs $22,000 a year to house a prisoner. “Society can’t stand that kind of expense.”

Maxwell said his office can’t force inmates to participate in the programs available. But for those who participate in all three rehabilitation programs — educational, religious and addiction therapy — the rate of return to prison was cut to approximately 18 percent.