SMITHFIELD - Today and tomorrow, Steve Bizzell will put the finishing touches on 250 special presents he'll deliver Christmas Day. The gifts won't generate the screams of excitement an HD television or PlayStation3 would. By materialistic standards, these gifts aren't much -- a little fruit, some chocolate and hard candy.

Nonetheless, Bizzell has reason to believe his holiday cheer will be appreciated, partly because it's the only gift the recipients can legally receive as inmates at the Johnston County jail. That Bizzell thinks these folks will appreciate anything he gives them is, in my book, a delusion. After all, he's the guy ultimately responsible for locking them up.

Bizzell is the no-nonsense sheriff of Johnston County whose calling card line to drug offenders is "County Line or County Jail."

Last Christmas was the first time Bizzell, along with son Blake, handed out fruit and candy bags to his charges. Only about a dozen of the 206 inmates bothered to thank him. He rationalized the scant display of gratitude by telling me -- and himself -- that the surprise Christmas visit probably froze their tongues. No matter, he explained, because he could see appreciation in their eyes.

Right, sheriff.

This guy still believes Christmas is all about goodwill toward men.

Nice thought, but the truth is Johnston County stopped being Mayberry a long time ago. Despite the friendly drawls and warm nature of its people, the county has a lot of big-city crime. Drug running is a constant problem, thanks to the presence of Interstate 95, America's drug smuggling expressway of choice.

Half of the inmates Bizzell will greet on Christmas are being held on drug offenses. Nine inmates are charged with murder (three of them are women). On Tuesday, deputies arrested a man charged with sexual abuse of a minor.

These are not the type of people who worry about getting their Christmas cards mailed on time.

I know people who have spent time in jail. Most are 24/7 schemers who can turn just about anything into self-indulgent or self-destructive contraband -- including a Christmas bag of fruit and candy. They can take orange peels and apple skins, combine them with stolen dining hall bread and ferment them into jailhouse booze. Sucker sticks can be sharpened into shanks. Candy wrappers can be tightly rolled and hardened into mini-spears. If filled with a heavy object, even the Christmas bag can be used as a destructive weapon.

I sought out the jail's top detention officer, Captain Bonnie Strickland, a 17-year veteran. Little gets by her experienced eyes. She wasn't crazy about the plan to brighten inmates' Christmas last year. For good reason. After Bizzell finished playing St. Nick, it would be Strickland's staff that would bear the brunt of any unintended consequences.

But to the staff's surprise -- and mine -- every fruit peel, apple core, candy wrapper and bag from Bizzell's offering showed up in the trash bin where it belonged. A special lookout for Christmas bag contraband was called off after a few weeks.

A small jailhouse miracle had occurred. More than 200 inmates inadvertently wished Bizzell and his detention officers a Merry Christmas without saying a word.

This year, little miracles are occurring outside the jail. The money that pays for these gifts comes out of Bizzell's pocket. But without any urging, and following a failed attempt to keep his jailhouse generosity secret, folks who usually urge the sheriff to lock people up are helping him brighten Christmas for those he already has.

Maybe there's something to the goodwill to men -- even bad men -- Christmas theory after all.

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