Chaplain Program

The purpose of the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office Chaplain Program is to provide support to the inmates in our Detention Center or the officers of the Ashe County Sheriff’s Office and their families. Both our agency pastor and our local volunteer pastors are available for crisis response to assist with victims of crime, traumatic events or those involved in critical incidents within Ashe County.

• The Ashe County Sheriff’s Office employs a part-time Chaplain Program Administrator, Wade Huntsinger, who is tasked with screening, training and scheduling a team of diverse local pastors. These volunteer pastors are available for either the requested denominational or even non-denominational spiritual enrichment and emotional support of inmates in the Ashe County Detention Center. Volunteer members of the Chaplain Program provide counseling, upon request, for not only the inmates in the detention center, but also the administration and staff of the detention center. The Chaplain Program team serves as an important link between the inmates in our care and the local churches and outreach programs in our community and help coordinate programs and provide inmate-requested religious material or applicable clergy to satisfy inmates’ requests.

In December of 2018 newly-elected Sheriff B. Phil Howell and newly-installed Detention Captain Linda Carrow converted a seldom-used storage room inside the Booking area of Ashe County Detention Center into what is now the Chaplain Program office.

The new Chaplain Program office, staffed by Agency Chaplain Wade Huntsinger and a team of diverse volunteer pastors, provides inmates a quiet, comfortable room to speak with a chaplain at the inmate’s request. This new chaplains’ room is stocked with commonly-requested religious materials for inmates and a computer for chaplains to research other inmate-requested materials and information.

The new chaplain’s room is also equipped with a HomeWAV video visitation link for inmates, if necessary, to remotely connect with clergy, clerics and leaders of churches or religions that may not be represented by one of our local volunteer chaplains.

Lead by Agency Chaplain Wade Huntsinger, the Crisis Response Resource is a team of 10 pastors from various local churches that have volunteered their time to assist the community in the wake of traumatic events.

When requested by a member of Ashe County Sheriff’s Office command staff, these pastors will mobilize and respond to the scene of a crisis to offer assistance to anyone, be it one of our sheriff’s deputies, local police officers, firefighters, or community members, who reaches out and asks for their assistance. Our volunteer chaplains are also available to assist our deputies when they’re tasked with the unfortunate position of having to notify family members of a death or serious injury or when having to notify an inmate in our jail of a family member’s passing.

Agency Chaplain Wade Huntsinger
Ashe County Sheriff’s Office
140 Government Cir. 
Jefferson, NC 28640

EMAIL: chaplain@asheso.com
OFFICE: 336-846-5610
CELL: 336-620-1427