CANDIDATE QUESTIONNAIRE
What is your name? Anthony G. Willett
What office are you seeking? Henderson County Jailer.
I currently serve as Henderson County Jailer. Following the retirement of Jailer Bruce Todd, I was appointed to complete the remainder of the current term and was sworn in on July 1, 2026.
I won the Republican primary for Jailer in May and will be on the ballot in the November General Election.
What is your age? 47
Please provide family background. (I.E. spouse, children, grandchildren, pets)
I have been married to my wife, Patti McCuiston-Willett, since November 1, 2013, and together we have shared more than 20 years side by side. She has been my best friend, my biggest supporter, and the person who has stood beside me through every season of life.
Together, Patti and I have built a blended family that means everything to us. I have three stepchildren who I consider my own and who consider me their dad: Samantha Pitsonbarger, Chance McCuiston and Mason Settle. I also have three children of my own: Anthony G. Willett Jr., Myleigh A. Willett and Tytus Willett.
We are also blessed with several grandchildren who bring a tremendous amount of joy to our lives.
Our home would not be complete without our pets. We have three dogs, Bambi, Zoe and Buddy, along with our cat Roxie and four kittens, Rose, Blanche, Dorothy and Sophia.
At the end of the day, family keeps me grounded. No matter what title I hold or uniform I wear, being a husband, father and grandfather reminds me why service to this community matters.
What is your educational background? (i.e. high school, GED, associate degree, bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, doctoral degree, etc.)
I graduated from Henderson County High School in 1997. Seven days later, on June 9, 1997, I left for United States Marine Corps Boot Camp at Parris Island, South Carolina.
Earning the title of United States Marine remains one of the proudest and most defining moments of my life. During my five years of service, I received extensive training and experience in leadership, discipline, accountability, decision-making under pressure and personal responsibility.
I proudly served my full contract and was honorably discharged.
I did not immediately follow the traditional college path after high school, but my education did not stop there. Throughout my career I have continued learning through professional education, instructor certifications, correctional and law-enforcement training, leadership development and hands-on experience.
I believe education can come through a classroom, but I also believe a person should never stop learning simply because they are no longer sitting in one.
Have you been elected to a political office previously? If so, what office(s) and when did you hold the office(s)?
I have not previously served a full elected term in political office.
I won the Republican primary for Henderson County Jailer in May 2026. Before the beginning of the next term, Jailer Bruce Todd retired effective June 30, 2026, and Henderson County Judge-Executive Brad Schneider appointed me to complete the remainder of his term. I was sworn in as Henderson County Jailer on July 1, 2026.
I am now serving as Jailer while also appearing on the November General Election ballot.
What is your professional background? (Please include career and any boards and volunteer work.)
I began my corrections career at the Henderson County Detention Center in 2002. I started as a deputy working on the floor and worked my way through the ranks to Major of Operations, where I served as third in command for approximately five years.
During that period, I was involved in daily jail operations, employee training, policy development, discipline, security operations and program development. I also helped build the Special Emergency Response Team, or S.E.R.T., for situations requiring specially trained personnel.
Training was something I cared deeply about then, and it remains one of my priorities today.
I later transferred to the Henderson County Sheriff’s Office, where I eventually served as Administrative Lieutenant over Support Services. My responsibilities included records management, civil and criminal process, vehicle inspections, CCDW processing, open-records coordination and administrative operations. I also assisted with budgeting and fiscal management.
I served as a training coordinator and obtained instructor certifications in areas including firearms, TASER, Rescue Task Force, ASP baton, Active Shooter response and other law-enforcement disciplines.
On July 1, 2026, I returned to the Henderson County Detention Center as Henderson County Jailer.
That experience has changed the way I can answer this questionnaire today.
When I originally answered these questions, I could tell people what I wanted to do. Today, Henderson County can look at what my team and I have actually begun doing.
During our first 60 days, HCDC employees completed 908 hours of classroom and hands-on training. We established an 80-hour Basic Jailers Academy, with five employees graduating from the first academy, followed by Field Training Officer training. We changed inmate-movement procedures, began correcting classification problems, strengthened purchasing controls, expanded programming, started a comprehensive policy review and began addressing facility and equipment needs.
We have accomplished a lot, but I also recognize that two and a half months is only the beginning.
Why are you running for office?
When I originally answered this question, I said I was running because Henderson County deserved a detention center that was safe, secure, professional, accountable and transparent.
After taking office July 1, those priorities have not changed.
What has changed is that I now understand even more clearly how much responsibility comes with this position.
A jail is not simply walls, locks and inmate counts. We are responsible for the deputies who walk into that building every day, the people placed in our custody, their families, public resources and ultimately the safety of this community.
One thing I have tried very hard to do since taking office is pay attention to the people doing the job.
A simple example led to something that means a lot to me.
On different days I walked into our conference room while deputies were taking their lunch break. I would ask what they were having for lunch, and a few told me they were broke and couldn’t afford to eat that day.
So, I bought them lunch.
But I kept thinking about it afterward.
Our entry-level floor deputies currently start at approximately $18 an hour. They work inside a correctional facility, deal with difficult and sometimes dangerous situations, work weekends and holidays and have families and bills just like everyone else.
I don’t think an employee should work a correctional shift hungry simply because money is tight.
We have now made it so deputies are provided one meal during their shift, and employees working more than four hours of an additional shift are authorized a meal for that shift as well.
It isn’t going to make somebody rich. It isn’t going to solve every problem. But sometimes taking care of your employees begins with paying attention to things that may seem small to everyone except the person experiencing them.
We are working on the larger issue too.
For next year’s budget, we are developing a structured step-pay plan that would bring the proposed entry-level deputy starting rate from approximately $18 an hour to $22 an hour.
We are also working toward restoring 15 deputy positions that were previously removed from HCDC staffing.
We’re also creating a dedicated office and computer area for deputies to complete mandatory online training.
Right now, a deputy who needs to complete required online training often has to try to find an available computer in booking or somebody’s office. If we’re going to hold employees accountable for completing mandatory training, then I believe we have a responsibility to provide them an appropriate place and the tools necessary to do it.
To me, that is part of leadership.
Leadership certainly means setting standards and holding people accountable. But it also means listening, paying attention and making sure the people you expect to meet those standards have the tools, training and support necessary to succeed.
If elected to office, what would be your top three goals?
1. Safety, Security and Investing in Our Employees
Safety and security remain our first responsibility.
Since taking office, we have changed inmate movement so inmates are escorted from their housing areas to their destinations rather than moving throughout portions of the facility without an escort.
We discovered classification problems, including maximum-security inmates being housed with minimum-security inmates, and began a facility-wide reclassification effort.
We located maximum-security doors that had previously been removed from the detention center and stored at the county garage, and we began working toward returning them to service rather than unnecessarily replacing the entire specialty door system.
We also identified problems in maximum-security cells that needed repair and began correcting them.
But equipment and procedures are only part of security. The people working inside the facility are our greatest resource.
During our first 60 days, HCDC employees completed 908 hours of classroom and hands-on training, including:
· 360 hours of Basic Jailers Training
· 176 hours of CPR/First Aid
· 156 hours of Mental Health training
· 24 hours of FTO Use of Force training
Five employees graduated from our inaugural 80-hour Basic Jailers Academy.
We have expanded instructor capabilities, continued firearms, TASER and OC training, and are creating the dedicated computer area I mentioned so employees can complete required online training without searching the facility for an available workstation.
Going forward, my goal is not simply to recruit employees.
I want to build a detention center where good employees want to stay.
That means competitive pay, adequate staffing, good training, dependable equipment, consistent leadership and treating employees like they matter.
2. Reducing Recidivism and Building Real Second-Chance Opportunities
One of the things I talked about before taking office was reducing recidivism.
That is easy to say during a campaign.
The harder part is actually building something that can help.
HCDC already has multiple Kentucky Department of Corrections-approved programs, and since taking office we have worked to strengthen what exists while developing additional opportunities. Two additional MRT programs, MRT Thinking for Good and MRT Trauma, were approved to begin September 1.
On September 14, Sarah Kanet, our SAP Supervisor, Susanna Schaefer, our Programs Facilitator, and I met with Mary Dunham regarding bringing the GAIN Initiative, Getting Ahead in a Just Getting By World, into HCDC.
The first class is scheduled to begin September 30.
GAIN is a 10-week program focused on eleven different resources, including financial, emotional and social resources. Participants work together while developing individual action plans for moving forward.
We have also met with representatives of the WARM Center about the possibility of expanding substance-abuse programming.
The current Kentucky DOC Substance Abuse Program serves qualifying state inmates, which can leave county and federal inmates, and some state inmates who do not qualify, with fewer structured substance-abuse opportunities.
We are working to see whether we can responsibly help fill that gap.
We are also exploring additional life-skills programming dealing with things such as financial literacy, budgeting, employment readiness, completing applications, obtaining identification and other practical issues that can become major barriers when someone leaves incarceration.
We already have PORTALS programming that includes employment-related skills such as interviewing and résumé building. Our goal is not to duplicate programs that are already working. It is to build around them and reach individuals who may not currently have access to those resources.
We are also continuing our Second Chance Employment efforts by bringing employers, service providers, counselors, churches and community organizations together.
My philosophy is pretty simple:
We cannot force anybody to change.
We cannot guarantee that every person will use the opportunities we provide.
But if someone is willing to change, I want to make sure we aren’t sending that person back into Henderson County with fewer tools, fewer resources and less hope than they had when they came through our doors.
Accountability and opportunity can exist at the same time.
3. Accountability, Fiscal Responsibility and Rebuilding Trust
My third priority is building systems and relationships that will last beyond whoever happens to occupy the Jailer’s office.
That includes our comprehensive policy-and-procedure review, stronger purchasing controls, better inventory systems, electronic training and employee records, better documentation and clear expectations for employees.
It also includes protecting relationships that benefit Henderson County.
One of those is our relationship with the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
The KYTC agreement provides approximately $175,000 per year to HCDC for a female inmate road crew to perform authorized work connected with state roads, including mowing, litter pickup, assisting with salt trucks and other approved work.
When I took office, KYTC had expressed concerns about whether the dedicated crew had been used consistently with the intended scope of the agreement, including being assigned to non-state properties.
We have been working to address those concerns and preserve the contract.
I believe that relationship is important for several reasons. It provides meaningful work for eligible female inmates, provides a service to the community and brings significant revenue into the detention center.
We are also working to restore relationships with local businesses.
For years, HCDC purchased garden plants and seeds from Henderson County vendors. I believe that when a local business can meet our needs at a competitive price and the purchase complies with applicable procurement requirements, we should consider the total cost, not just the number printed on an invoice.
If we can purchase something locally for less while avoiding additional fuel, travel and employee time, that is worth considering.
Fiscal responsibility doesn’t always mean simply buying the cheapest item.
It means asking:
What does this actually cost us?
Why are we buying it?
Does it serve the operation?
Can we defend the decision?
That’s the standard I want applied to HCDC spending.
PREA Compliance and Corrective Work
When I took office July 1, HCDC had 29 identified deficiencies from the 2025 PREA audit and corrective process.
The audit information had been received by the detention center in February 2026, before I took office. At the time I assumed office, those corrective items still needed to be addressed.
We immediately started working through them.
As of this update, 19 of the original 29 deficiencies have been corrected, leaving 10 of the original findings still being addressed.
But we did not stop with the auditor’s list.
As our staff began taking a deeper look at PREA practices throughout the detention center, we identified 10 additional deficiencies that had not been identified by the 2025 auditor. Our review indicates those conditions or practices had also been occurring since 2025.
So instead of saying, “The auditor didn’t find it, therefore it isn’t our problem,” we added those items to our corrective work.
We are currently working to correct the remaining 10 original findings as well as the 10 additional issues our own review discovered, with the goal of having the corrective work completed by approximately mid- to late October 2026.
Earlier in our corrective process, we strengthened privacy practices involving sensitive PREA screening questions and revised body-scanning procedures to provide additional privacy protections. PREA training and continued compliance work have also become a significant part of our training efforts.
We are also scheduled to host PREA Investigator Certification and Jail Leadership and PREA Management training at HCDC between November 30 and December 3.
I am actually encouraged that our staff found additional issues.
Finding something wrong isn’t something I believe we should hide from.
If the goal were simply to make ourselves look good, we could check off the auditor’s list and stop looking.
That isn’t the standard I want.
Find the problem.
Acknowledge the problem.
Correct the problem.
Train our people.
And put systems in place so the problem doesn’t come back.
Staffing and Deputy Pay
This is one of the areas I believe will have the greatest long-term effect on the detention center.
An entry-level floor deputy currently starts at approximately $18 per hour.
We are working on a proposed step-pay structure for the next budget year that would bring entry-level deputy starting pay to approximately $22 per hour while establishing a clearer career progression based on rank, responsibility, experience and years of service.
We also identified 15 deputy positions that had previously been removed, and we are working toward restoring those positions as part of our future staffing plan.
With the planned expansion of the detention center, we also have to look beyond those 15 positions and determine what staffing will actually be necessary to operate the expanded facility safely.
I don’t want pay decisions to feel arbitrary.
Employees should be able to look at a structure and understand where they start, where they can go and what advancement looks like.
Pay matters for recruitment.
It matters for retention.
But it also matters for something less measurable, whether an employee believes the organization values the responsibility we are asking them to carry.
Why should people vote for you?
Since taking office July 1, Henderson County has had an opportunity to see how I approach this job rather than simply hear what I said I would do during a campaign.
I would ask voters to look at that record and make their own decision.
During our first 60 days, we increased training, established an 80-hour Basic Jailers Academy, strengthened inmate-movement procedures, began correcting classification and PREA issues, tightened purchasing controls, expanded programming and community partnerships, addressed facility and equipment needs and began building longer-term plans for staffing, compensation and employee development.
Since that 60-day update, that work has continued.
We are moving forward with GAIN, working with WARM on additional programming, expanding Second Chance partnerships, developing a dedicated training-computer area for our deputies, providing meals to deputies working qualifying shifts, working on the proposed step-pay plan, working toward restoring deputy positions, preserving relationships such as the KYTC road-crew agreement and continuing our PREA corrective work.
But numbers and programs only tell part of the story.
When we talk about staffing, those are deputies with families.
When we talk about training, those are employees who may have seconds to make an important decision inside that building.
When we talk about reentry, those are men and women who will eventually return to our neighborhoods.
When we talk about spending, those are resources we have a responsibility to manage carefully.
And when we talk about accountability, that standard has to apply to everyone, including me.
I don’t expect anybody to make their decision solely because of something I say in a questionnaire.
I believe voters should look at the work, look at the results, ask questions and decide for themselves whether the Henderson County Detention Center is moving in the direction they believe it should go.
Please feel free to add an additional comment.
There is something I understand better today than I did when I originally completed this questionnaire.
There are no insignificant people inside a detention center.
The deputy working the floor matters.
The employee working booking matters.
The maintenance employee matters.
The person preparing meals matters.
The inmate trying to turn his or her life around matters.
The family waiting for someone to come home matters.
And the citizen who may never walk through the doors of the Henderson County Detention Center matters.
Because eventually, almost everything we do inside those walls finds its way back outside those walls.
That is why we’re working on safety and security at the same time we’re working on Second Chance employment, substance-abuse programming, life skills and education.
It is why we’re trying to improve deputy compensation while also controlling spending.
It is why something as large as correcting PREA deficiencies matters to me, and why something as simple as making sure a deputy working a long shift has something to eat matters too.
I don’t believe being firm and being compassionate are opposites.
We can hold employees accountable and still take care of our employees.
We can hold inmates accountable for the decisions that brought them to jail and still give them an opportunity to leave better prepared than when they came in.
We can enforce standards and still admit when we find something that needs to be fixed.
And we can be proud of progress without pretending the work is finished.
One of the things I said when I took office was that accountability and dignity are not opposites. That continues to guide how I look at this job.
We have accomplished a tremendous amount since July 1, but I still see far more that needs to be done.
My commitment is to keep doing the work, keep listening, keep looking for problems instead of hiding from them, correct them when we find them and continue moving the Henderson County Detention Center forward.
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