“We couldn’t do it without him.”
Six powerful words said by Anderson County Sheriff Russell Barker. “Him” in his quote refers to Anderson County Sheriff’s Office (ACSO) Corrections Lt. Jeff Smith, the Operations Lieutenant for the ACSO Detention Center that houses a daily average of 400 inmates.
Lt. Jeff Smith
Jeffery Allen Smith is 55, born and reared in Clinton. He has been at the ACSO for 24 years and 2026 is his 19th consecutive year working in Corrections. As the Operations lieutenant, he supervises three shift floor sergeants and 43 Corrections deputies spread across the shifts. Smith said that on the day we spoke, the jail population was 380, of whom 70 were women.
The detention center is a busy place. And Smith loves it, the people who work there, and the people who report to him.
“Our motto at the sheriff’s office is ‘What is the definition of integrity? Doing the right thing when no one is looking.’ We’re all about teamwork and that’s my love and focus here – always doing the right thing. We have a lot of people with different and fun personalities and I work to get us all headed in the same direction to accomplish a common goal. That tracks with another focus of the ACSO: ‘One Mission. One Family.’”
Asst. Chief Deputy Zack Allen commands the Corrections Division.
Capt. Shain Vowell is second in command and is Smith’s direct supervisor. Vowell doubles as the ACSO Public Information Officer (PIO).
Smith is Anderson County right down to the ground. He graduated from Anderson County High School in 1989 and was a three-sport standout in football (running back and linebacker), basketball (shooting guard, averaged 17 points per game) and baseball (pitcher). He earned a bachelor’s degree in organizational management from Tusculum College in 2003 and an associate degree in criminal justice from Walters State Community College.
Not long after graduating from high school, he worked in Alaska for part of 1989, helping with the cleanup of the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill in March 1989 in Prince William Sound. The supertanker struck a reef and spilled 11 million gallons of oil. Smith drove a forklift and also drove semi-trucks loaded with 55-gallon drums of the recovered oil to a facility where it was destroyed. He also met others working on the spill, including Russians. “I learned one thing for sure about being there. In Alaska, you have to be very careful about your surroundings. There are lots of grizzly bears there.”
When he returned from Alaska, Smith joined the ACSO. “I didn’t grow up wanting to be in law enforcement. I was more into business and sports. But my younger brother Brian got on at the sheriff’s office, so I applied,” he explains. “It was an opportunity, and I fell in love with it because of the teamwork. I picked it up fast. And I didn’t know it at the time, but it was my calling.”
The calling ended in 2003 when he left the ACSO to start his own construction company. “It just wasn’t the same, and I gave it a chance, but I missed law enforcement, so I went back to the sheriff’s office and have stayed here,” he said.
From 1998 to 2003, he worked in the jail and transportation and served as a patrol deputy. When he returned in 2007, he resumed working as a Corrections deputy, guarding and interacting with inmates. In 2012, he was promoted to sergeant, and in 2021, Sheriff Barker promoted him to lieutenant.
“This job in the jail is not for everybody. We do have turnover with the staff. It can be very stressful at times, but after a while, you relax, and your heart rate doesn’t go up when something happens,” he said. “Fights with inmates happen – the men and the women. We have to fight with the inmates sometimes. It happens. It takes a toll on some people working here. We don’t like using force, but it happens. Our focus is to keep both the inmates and us safe. The inmates also fight one another, and we have to break those up.”
His work has not gone unnoticed.
Smith was presented with the prestigious ACSO Paul N. White Leadership Award on December 18, 2025. The award recognizes Smith’s exceptional leadership, dedication, and service. It is named after a longtime employee and former sheriff. This award also honors leaders who demonstrate commitment to the department’s mission. He earned Deputy of the Month honors in 2013 and was presented with the Sheriff’s Award in 2023.
Smith thankfully says he has not had any major injuries through the years. “Nothing major so far. I’ve been bloodied up in fights and had a few pulled muscles. But confrontations are part of what we do, and you get used to it,” he said.
He has experienced and dealt with inmate suicides. Never easy, he says.
But one interaction is one he will never forget. “We had a lady in the jail, maybe in her 50s, and she was in a special needs cell. She had been complaining of pain, and I was talking with her. The medical team was on its way to assess her,” he remembers. “And then she just collapsed. Dead. She was just gone. It turns out she had cancer all over her body and didn’t know it. She’d never gone to a doctor for her pain. It was shocking that in the middle of a sentence, she was gone. Dead. And it happened so quickly. We did everything we could to save her.”
His job is 24/7/365 – five work days plus calls at night and on weekends to answer questions and discuss situations at the jail. His stress is eased by his family – wife Elizabeth Lynne, a paralegal, and their two daughters – Ava, 18, and Caitlynne, 13. “I love taking the family out to eat so we can talk and we love camping and just being a family,” he says. “I love watching sports, especially the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I hunt deer and turkey and fish on the Clinch River. It all helps.”
Back to his boss – Sheriff Barker. He left us with a few more words about Smith. “Jeff’s dedication and expertise have been invaluable to our team, and we are grateful for his ongoing commitment to serving our community with integrity and professionalism.”
Teamwork and integrity. The lieutenant and the sheriff share both!
Tom King has been the editor of newspapers in Texas and California, and also worked in Tennessee and Georgia. If you have someone you think we should consider featuring, please email Tom at the link with his name or text him at 865-659-3562.
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