Captain Walker Respects All

(Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of meeting the community’s public service employees who take care of the residents and businesses in Jasper County and the city of Monticello. This week, Kim Joris introduces us to more of the staff at the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office.)

A corrections o?cer for Gwinnett County from 1983 until he retired as deputy warden in 2009, Captain Edward Walker began working for the Jasper County Sheri?’s O?ce (JCSO) on April 4, 2011. During his brief retirement he laughed and o?ered that he worked for his wife for about one year, tackling honey do lists and working alongside her as she navigated their zero turn mower and he tackled the weed eating.

“I’m the best weed eating guy in Jasper County,” he quipped. He then spent a year managing and caretaking a local Jasper County hunting tract before reentering law enforcement at the JCSO as a jailer.

On January 1, 2013, the first day of then newly elected Sheri? Donnie Pope’s term, Captain Walker began his reign as Jail Commander at JCSO. Sheri? Pope had approached Walker prior to the election and asked him to serve as his Jail Commander should he be elected. With the blessing and the okay from his family, Captain Walker said yes and began his role as Jail Commander the day Sheri? Pope took o?ce.

Captain Walker has been married for 44 years to wife Marchele, the special needs bus driver for the Jasper County Charter Schools (JCCS). They met back in high school at one of his high school basketball games. They are the parents of two daughters, Monica who works in Information Technology and Katrina, a nurse. They are also the grandparents of four granddaughters and one grandson, ages 10 to 22, and great-grandparents to two eight month olds born on the same day, one girl and one boy.

Whether telling stories of his granddaughters’ Nutcracker recitals or talking about his grandson’s traveling football team, he beams with pride. “I never thought I’d ever watch ballet,” he said. Pulling his phone out of his pocket to show me family pictures, he waxed eloquent about ballet for several minutes, about his granddaughters’ performances in The Nutcracker ballet and about the Georgia College and State University’s (GCSU) ballet program that his granddaughters have participated in for several years.

A 1978 graduate of Dacula High School, Captain Walker is originally from Gwinnett County. He was a high school athlete, playing football and basketball and running track. Joining the Army after high school took him to Germany for two years and also to Fort Hood, Texas. After leaving the Army four years later to come home to Georgia, he joined the National Guard. And other than maybe Alaska, a place Captain Walker visited while on a cruise with his wife in 2019, there is no other place he’d rather be than Georgia.

A road trip with his wife from their home in Gwinnett County to his father-in-law’s church in Jasper County one Sunday over three decades ago landed Captain Walker and his family in Jasper County. Driving back roads to the church that day he and his wife passed a farm with a For Sale sign in its front yard.

He has spent the last 37 years piecing together the land surrounding that farm, amassing a farm that now totals 107 acres, a farm that is shared with daughter Katrina. Over the years, their family farm has been home to horses, cattle, bird dogs, farm raised quail and chickens, and at one time their chicken operation supplied chickens for Cagle’s chicken corporation.

He is brother to three siblings, all boys. Like Captain Walker, his brothers also chose lives in law enforcement. One brother is a retired police o?cer, one is a retired Sheri? and currently an Assistant Chief of Police and one is Head of Security at Hebron Christian Academy in Gwinnett County.

A man described by many who know him as almost too nice to be in his job, Captain Walker is a caring soul. He knows many of the inmates in his care by name and often follows their progress once they leave his jail. He even dislikes the term inmate, using it as a descriptor for clarification rather than a word to describe the people in jail.

He also pays attention to detail, orderliness and responsibility. Handing me an Inmate Handbook, the first of its kind for the Jasper County Jail, he created and instituted its use to help provide responsibility and structure for those who are incarcerated and for the safety and security of his jail personnel and the inmates. The Inmate Handbook starts with a first page of Inmate Special Rules. It continues for 30 pages covering subjects ranging from cell and dayroom cleaning responsibilities, uniforms, contraband and meals to books, radios, recreation and religious services, prohibited behavior and medical services. One section is even dedicated to the grievance mechanism and grievance procedures available to inmates and o?ers step by step instructions for the inmate on how to institute a a complaint.

Showing me before photos of the jail interior with its peeling paint and broken fixtures, the after photos show a cleaner, safer and more pleasant jail. A first order of business for Captain Walker was to repaint the entire jail interior, including the interior of the jail cells, boosting moral and improving the attitude of everyone who has to spend time inside its walls all day.

The Jasper County Sheri?’s O?ce’s first of many Covid victims, Captain Walker spent 8 days in the hospital and several more recovering. Covid changed the visitation policy at the Jail, allowing remote visitation only. That practice continues today and for some visitors it is an easier process, allowing them to visit from their home on a computer when otherwise they might not be able to visit at all.

“No matter who we are, we’re all kin to someone who is addicted,” Captain Walker said when speaking about the main reason most people end up in the Jasper County Jail. He believes that not everyone is lucky enough or blessed to grow up with a good foundation or strong support system and doesn’t judge those under his care. He tries to treat everyone who comes through the doors of his jail with the same respect.

Throughout our interview, Captain Walker’s eyes darted back and forth from me to a TV monitor above his desk. The monitor, complete with 32-36 small screens, depicts scenes in every part of the jail. His small windowless o?ce is home to dozens of pairs of hand cu?s and leg shackles hanging on a sheet of pegboard and boxes of all types of extra jail supplies.

Though he will not be getting a new o?ce after the jail addition, he joked that he might get most of his o?ce back if there is more storage space for supplies in the addition.

A jail commander for 10 years now at JCSO and 26 years with Gwinnett County Corrections, Captain Walker says he has at least a few more years to give to Jasper County. Describing Sheri? Pope as mindful and respectful and someone who goes the extra mile for his employees and treats them as family, he said he’s never had a better leader than Sheri? Pope and hopes to stay as long as the Sheri? wants to keep him on.

Aware of his role as a possible mentor for several who walk through the doors of the jail, Captain Walker shared, “I try to be good to people. I try to make sure every day is a good day. I have a responsibility to them.” The folks who think Captain Walker might be too nice for his job are almost right. He is a nice guy, and that seems like a good thing and just what might be needed for the job of a Jail Commander.

The Jasper County Sheri?’s O?ce is located at 1551 Ga Hwy 212 West, Monticello, GA and can be reached for emergencies by dialing 911 and for non-emergency calls and information at 706.468.4912.