By C1 Staff
AUBURN, Ala. — An Alabama corrections officer diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes from a young age is using his experience overcoming challenges to reach out to juvenile offenders.
According to The Plainsman, CO Earnest Webb recalls being a troubled teenager himself, running with the wrong crowd and not properly taking care of himself, putting his health at risk. He was eventually straightened out by a basketball coach.
“He brought me to his office and said, ‘Hey, you need to change,’” Webb recalled. “He chewed me out. He blistered me, and he blistered me, and he blistered me, and I changed.”
With the encouragement of his coach, Webb finished high school and went to college. His coach made him feel accountable for his mistakes and taught him to be disciplined in taking his insulin and healthy eating.
Webb uses these principles to help troubled youth at the Lee County Youth Development Center. He first gets to know them by playing cards and other games, then connects with them and does his best to teach them perseverance.
“It’s been an inspiration,” he said. “We have kids there now who just don’t understand, but if I keep putting some good seed in them, speaking God over them, praying for them, eventually some good has to come out of this.”
The most fulfilling part of his job, Webb says, is seeing teens succeed after they leave the facility.
“It’s amazing just to see them say, ‘I’m never going back there. You taught me a lot,’” Webb said. “That’s what makes my job what it is. That’s what makes me proud. That’s what makes me happy. If I just see one say, ‘Hey, I changed for the better,’ [then] I’ve done my job.”