Simpson County jailer James Mooneyhan will be retiring after 22 years on the job in Franklin. Photo by Clinton Lewis

James Mooneyhan grew up in Simpson Countys 1876 jail, which is now an archives building. His grandfather, Henry Akin, was jailer and his father Virgil Mooneyhan was a deputy. Part of Virgil Mooneyhans salary included living in the jail. I said Id never be a jailer because you had to stay there all the time, Mooneyhan said, sitting in his office in the recently remodeled 1985 jail. Now he is reflecting on his 22 years as Simpson Countys jailer a job that will end as the year does. With his three years at the sheriffs office and military service, he has 27 years in the state retirement system. Mooneyhan, 62, was appointed to the office July 1, 1980, after the previous jailer resigned. Besides Mooneyhan, there was one full-time employee, two part-time employees and a cook. The annual budget was $40,000.The day I took office there were eight inmates. Now we have 120 or 130 a day on a regular basis, Mooneyhan said. Now the annual budget is $1.3 million. There are a lot of things that have changed, but also a lot that have stayed the same, he said. Before then the jails were run like a Mom and Pop organization. There was the jailer and his wife running the place. You knew everybody who was brought in. Mooneyhan was the first jailer not to live on the premises. He let one of the deputies stay there as part of his salary. Then we had a couple of town drunks. They were kind of like Otis (on The Andy Griffith Show), except we didnt give them the keys to the jail. But you would open the door and theyd just walk in. After a couple of hours, it would be time to leave. And despite having increased the size of the jail, Mooneyhan still knows personally most of the inmates. But instead of town drunks, the jail has to deal with town drug addicts. You have to handle those people a lot differently. When people were drunk we could give them a little orange juice, honey and water and it would sober them up, Mooneyhan said. Its difficult now to predict how long certain drugs will take to wear off, and some people on pain medication or other drugs are very hard to manage, he said. Jailers and staff are more well-trained now than in previous years, Mooneyhan said. The safety of the jail is a whole lot better, he said. In the 80s the state began requiring that jails be manned full-time by awake staff, not just someone sleeping on the premises. There was a fire somewhere in Tennessee at a (Mom and Pop) jail and it cost the state millions, he said. The requirements changed here after that. The job is time-consuming, which is one of the reasons why Mooneyhan decided to retire. Some of the most difficult things to deal with are the life and death situations particularly when it comes to dealing with the physical and mental health care of an inmate, he said. Mooneyhan also has had to deal with three jailhouse suicides over the years. Thats the worse thing a jailer has to handle, Mooneyhan said. Still, Mooneyhan said there are many good things about the job. Its great to see someone get rehabilitated, he said. Jail programs have helped with that. We have (Alcoholics Anonymous, Narcotics Anonymous) and anger counseling to help people function when they get on the outside. And I started a GED program so they could get a high school diploma. But I didnt do all this by myself, Ive had a lot of cooperation. Two of the things Mooneyhan is particularly happy to say hes changed include removing juveniles from adult detention and being among the first jailers in the state to not accept mentally ill people. A person who is mentally ill has no business being in jail, he said. They need other help. There was one time, we had a person who had been an upstanding citizen all his life and then he became mentally ill and his wife didnt know what to do with him. She talked to some people and they advised her to put him in jail. They brought him in. It broke my heart, Mooneyhan said. He cried all night because he didnt understand why he was here. After that I vowed I wouldnt accept anyone who was mentally ill. There is a state order on the books to that effect now, but some police around the state disguise a mentally ill person as someone who is committing disorderly conduct, he said. More needs to be done to protect the rights of the mentally ill. Jailer-elect Danny Booher sat in Mooneyhans office listening as he talked. Booher said he has big shoes to fill. Hes done a good job and I hope I can carry on the tradition, he said. Mooneyhan is pleased that the 50-something jail staff will stay in place when Booher takes office. When I walk out the door and he walks in, you shouldnt be able to tell a difference (with most things), Mooneyhan said. As for the first thing Mooneyhan plans to do in retirement: Take the phone off the hook. Mooneyhan said he will continue volunteer work with the Arts Council and sports announcing for WFKN radio in Franklin. And I have four grandchildren that I imagine Ill carry around a lot, he said.