Saturday’s craft fair at Two Bridges Regional Jail in Wiscasset attracted about 100 shoppers, raised about $1,200 and gave inmates in the jail’s industries program a way to build their self-esteem, jail staff said.

Many people who serve time in jail have not had a lot of positive experiences in their life, Lt. Naomi Bonang said near the close of the fourth annual event in a staff training room off the jail’s lobby.

Bonang supervises the industries program where minimum security, incident-free inmates earn wages and learn skills in woodworking and other crafts. The jail sells the items at the fair and a summer kiosk on the Wiscasset waterfront; and donates many of the items to area charities that give them to families for Christmas presents.

If someone in the program had nothing waiting for them under a tree on Christmas as a child, making sure someone else does adds to the meaning of the work, Bonang said.

The fact that someone will enjoy the item is a source of pride for the worker who made it, she said. “And that’s part of what we’re trying to do here.”

Correctional Officer Ashley Russell, who also works in the industries program, agreed. She planned to talk with the people who made the crafts about how the fair went. Knowing that they have made a difference in someone’s Christmas helps give them a sense of self-esteem, Russell said.

Some of Saturday’s shoppers were repeat ones Bonang recalled from past fairs; former inmates were also among attendees, along with a woman who bought a cribbage board her grandson made when he was in jail and in the program, Bonang said.

Other items for sale included birdhouses, chairs, wine racks, toy animals and Christmas stockings. Correctional Officer Terry Marks remarked on the quality of the woodworking in the Christmas present he was buying. “It’s really good,” he told Bonang.

“I’m impressed,” Debra Bloom, a medical technician at the jail, said.

The supply of crafts for last year’s fair was down somewhat, due to an accidental, June 2014 fire that damaged the jail’s wood shop; the fire impacted production and the kiosk briefly closed for lack of stock. Production was back to normal this year, Bonang said.

The sales support the industries program and help make the donations to charities possible, Bonang said. Crafts remain for sale; many will be on display in the lobby of the jail, at 522 Bath Road, for the holiday season, she said.

For more on the program and its crafts, visit www.tbrj.org/industries.php.

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