On Christmas Eve morning, Santa Claus paid a visit to the Limestone County Jail.

He may not have come from the North Pole, but Sheriff Mike Blakely wanted to ensure that the more than 200 inmates in his jail felt a little bit of the Christmas spirit.

“Even though they’re not in jail for singing too loud in church, they’re all human beings,” he said. “A lot of the people are here because of drugs, alcohol or other problems. The problems are not beyond their control, but sometimes there’s extenuating circumstances.”

In preparation for the Christmas season, the women in two jail dorms used what resources they had available to decorate their home away from home.

In one dorm, the ladies stuffed old white shirts with paper and empty soda cans to make a snowman. In another, the ladies took labels from Mountain Dew bottles, wrapped them in cardboard rollers and made a Christmas tree, complete with paper ornaments. The inmates used colored candies like Skittles and Starburst to color the ornaments.

Christmas cards lined the railing of a staircase leading to cells on the second level of one cellblock. In another block, an inmate re-wrote “The Night Before Christmas” to make the story more comparable to her circumstances.

Capt. Vanessa Rich, a corrections officer with 27 years of experience with the jail, said she’s been impressed with the creativity displayed by the inmates.

“This year, they’ve got me and the sheriff hanging from the tree, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not,” Rich said, referring to homemade ornaments on the tree. “The women always get into Christmas more than the male inmates.”

Last year, the female inmates wrote a song to sing to Blakely and Rich as they came around to drop off gift bags. The bags are filled with candy, a deck of cards, toothpaste, shampoo, deodorant, a comb and fruit. Each cellblock also gets a couple of new games, usually checkers or dominos.

“(The inmates) are very appreciative because it’s solemn around here at Christmas,” Rich said. “We usually feed them a big breakfast and a Christmas meal.”

Blakely said despite the fact the inmates have all been accused of wrongdoing, they’re always appreciative of his and Rich’s efforts at Christmas.

“We’re responsible for ensuring their well-being while they’re in our care,” he said. “I think they’re usually overwhelmed (by the Christmas gift bags) and 99 percent of them are very appreciative.”

An inmate re-write of “The Night Before Christmas.”:

Our Very Own Christmas Story

It was three weeks before Christmas

In Dorm D11

Two girls made a tree

And an angel from heaven

We all taped our Christmas cards

Up along the stairs

With hopes that the fire marshal

Would not really care

All the C.O.’s (corrections officers) and employees

Had to come in and see

All the decorations that the girls

Had made for the tree

They made two C.O.’s, 1 man, 1 woman

And a sheriff makes three

And an inmate, a girl in orange

Handcuffs to see

The lights were bottle caps from

The different soda brands

The bulbs were all made

From their very own hands

Two wreaths were hung from

The catwalk with care

For all of the girls

To enjoy and share

While all of us girls

Try to keep warm in our beds

We get visions of honey buns

Dancing in our heads

This is the season

For all who believe

That hope, faith and love

Is a great gift to receive

With all this in our hearts

We’ll make this day all right

Merry Christmas to all

And to all a good night