CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Sheriff Chipp Bailey could genuinely smile as he said his goodbyes at Mecklenburg County Jail North Tuesday.
It has been seven years after the controversial political process that pit him against former Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Sgt. Nick Mackey before county commissioners before he finally got the job.
"I think it took six months or better to get in my own mind that I'm the sheriff and I can put whatever vision I want to going forward," Bailey said Tuesday, a day before he would officially retire from the job he's held since 2007.
And Bailey's vision had to start with jails that were filling up.
He had estimates that building more jails could cost about $350 million so he took another approach --reduce the number of inmates.
That meant expanding programs such as teaching inmates about blueprints and about gardening in a greenhouse built behind the main jail building on Spector Drive, where inmates cultivate plants and vegetables from seeds to bloom or harvest.
"If you will, it teaches a little bit of nurturing to inmates who may not have nurtured much of anything," Bailey said as he stood in the greenhouse surrounded by flowers and shrubs.
Another program brought teachers from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools to help young offenders get their GED's.
"I tell everybody, 'We're the only ones in the state who have high school in jail, and we really should have more,'" Bailey said.
It's one factor that has helped create a dramatic drop in crime and jail population in his seven years on the job from 2,900 in 2007 to just over 1,500 now.
Bailey said he will miss the people he has worked with and even the few inmates who have stopped him to say thank-you for helping them make a change.
"That's worth it," Bailey said. "That's worth any stress, any aggravation, any stuff we've been through. That's worth it," Bailey said.
After more than 40 years in law enforcement, Bailey said he plans to spend more time at the beach and may even return to an old hobby -- writing novels.