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According to Fox 28, Thanksgiving marks the 50th anniversary of a special holiday tradition at the Pickaway County jail. It’s special because the traditional Thanksgiving meal is served by the sheriff himself.

Sheriff Robert Radcliff carries a badge, a gun and, on this day, turkey with mashed potatoes. The sheriff told ABC 6/FOX 28, “You treat everybody the same. There’s nobody any better than anybody else and you treat everybody equal.”

He’s talking about the 61 inmates getting a special holiday lunch.

As for the man who cooked the turkey, well, he has a way with food and words. AJ Driesbach told us, “Even though these people are in here for a reason cause they’ve done something bad, that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve a good meal.”

This holiday marks 50 straight years of Sheriff Radcliff serving the Thanksgiving meal in jail. But it’s the current Sheriff’s second. The previous 48 were served by his father, who was also the Pickaway County Sheriff.

Sheriff Robert Radcliff said, “Not everybody who goes to jail is a bad person. A lot of these people, they make mistakes.”

And that’s not the only lesson handed down from his father Sheriff Radcliff or from his grandfather Sheriff Radcliff. It’s a family which believes even prisoners deserve a home cooked meal.

According to the current Sheriff Radcliff, “I am sure there are people out there who say they don’t deserve it, but they need to think: what if that were my son or daughter?”

The county provides the food but because there are fewer inmates at the holiday, the cost is roughly the same as a regular meal. And, yes, in case you’re wondering, the inmates also get a special meal on Christmas.