Fort Worth
Tarrant County Jail inmates sing Christmas carols to passers-by on the street below
They may not be Pentatonix, but they don’t lack the enthusiasm when it comes to singing “O Come, All Ye Faithful.”
Inmates in the Tarrant County Jail belted out Christmas carols from the upper floor of the jail in downtown Fort Worth at lunch hour in the days leading up to Christmas as passers-by looked up in wonder.
“We Wish You a Merry Christmas” and “ ’Tis the Season to be Jolly” aren’t exactly what you’d expect to be hearing from the county’s central lockup.
But a recent ministry at the jail included singing, Tarrant County Sheriff Bill Waybourn said. Some of the inmates joined in, along with some corrections officers, and a jailhouse choir was born.
“We thought, you know, why not have an inmate choir for a couple of days before Christmas to give them a bit of hope?” Waybourn said.
The sheriff’s office posted a Facebook Live video of the choir’s performance that has since gotten 25,000 views and been shared almost 350 times.
Commenters were overwhelmingly supportive — and moved.
One woman left a note saying: “God bless my daughter who was singing. May God bless each one of you and hold you in his light.”
Waybourn said the singing and the reaction to it on social media have had a salutary effect on the inmates.
“The effect was incredibly emotional because these folks that we’re dealing with often don’t believe they have a positive impact on society at all,” he said. “When I shared with them that 20-plus thousand people had viewed this wonderful choir from Wednesday, there was a lot of tears that were rolling down their eyes — they couldn’t believe that they were having that type of a positive impact on people.”
The sheriff said there’s interest in carrying on the choir program. “It’s something good and positive in their life ... and certainly makes them easier inmates to supervise.”
Tom Uhler: 817-390-7832, @tomuh
