Managing Editor
Workspace: Sheriff’s Office Jails Division Chief Tara Wildes
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office Jails Division Chief Tara Wildes rummaged in her desk drawer among the markers, pens and office supplies for the shank.
It was a broken toothbrush sanded to a sharp point.
On the back of a shelf, Wildes grabbed the broken broomstick, sanded, probably on the rough concrete stairs, to a much larger point.
Those were likely created as a means of protection, she said, but they’re not the most inventive creations confiscated or shared during her seven years as jails chief. “The ingenuity is unbelievable,” said Wildes.
In her jail office, Wildes displays two gifts from inmates - the bouquet made from newspaper and the creative hearts woven from chip bags.
There’s also the dart made from playing cards, a paper clip and a torn bed sheet, along with jump ropes woven from strips of torn sheets.
Officers find the items during random searches every day, every shift and in every area. There’s a big shake-down search once or twice a month.
Then there are the jailhouse tattoos, created by inmates with sharpened paper clips and ground-up pencil graphite,
Wildes is the chief at the Duval County Jail, which houses an average 2,800 inmates at a time for an average 100 days each.
They range in age from 15 to 73, although the jail has had inmates as young as 12 and as old as their 90s. They range in stay from two hours to four years. They vary from the college kid arrested for drunk and disorderly conduct to death-row inmates on their way to prison.
Wildes said Wednesday morning there were 159 inmates charged with homicide.
Most of the inmates are men, although 13-15 percent of the jail population is female. Their days start about 4:30 a.m., with lights out at 7:30 p.m. The early morning hour is to make time to prepare for morning court appearances.
Wildes and about 570 employees, primarily officers, operate the jail, a 12-story maximum security operation along East Adams Street.
Wildes said she’s lost her capacity for surprise, until the next one, that is. It can be a violent job. She declines comment on a weekend altercation between inmates, sending one to the hospital. The incident is under investigation. “It is definitely a hazardous profession,” she said.
Wildes took the corrections path to her post. “It is constantly changing. You’re always dealing with people in crisis,” she said. “It’s a real interesting point of view on the human condition.”
Wildes manages the facility, including operations, shifts, training, accreditation, health services and everything that comes with it. The budget she controls is about $25 million.
There also is on-the-job research. “We’ve got all criminals, all the time. There’s a lot you can learn from them,” she said.
Wildes also advocates that inmates have more options for filling their time, such as reading and work programs. “The public has a big investment in putting them in jail,” she said. “People don’t realize when you throw a bunch of criminals together, they are going to network and they are going to hone their skills.”
Now, all books sent in must come from the book publisher. That cuts back on situations like LSD-soaked pages or marijuana in a book’s spine. Wildes said the jail operates a rudimentary book exchange but wants a better system.
Wildes, born in Alma, Ga., grew up around law enforcement, with both her father and grandfather in the Bacon County, Ga., sheriff’s office. Her 20-year-old son is processing to enter the corrections academy.
To see life from more angles, Wildes and her husband, James Bowen, started a sports photography business, FieldProPhoto. “I juxtapose what I see here and there, happy people doing happy things.”
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