[5][6] Young was a part of the Quincy Police Department for 11 years, where he served as a patrolman, a patrol sergeant and as a member of the narcotics task force.

[8][9][10][1] He soon hired Chaplain Jimmy Salters to help create a reintegration program in the Gadsden County Jail which involves the larger church community and is based on faith, including the baptism of willing inmates.

[11] Young has said he believes that it's important to appeal to the spiritual side of offenders, as opposed to focusing on purely punitive actions that lock away inmates for long periods of time without any type of help to prevent recidivism.

[13] In 2014, State Attorney Willie Meggs forced Young to appear in front of 3rd Circuit Senior Judge Julian Collins, who found him guilty of indirect criminal contempt due to a program that allowed furloughs for inmates.

[8][14][15][16] The furlough program had been running for 32 years and allowed some inmates to leave custody, typically with an escort, for predetermined short periods of time up to 8 hours.

[8] Young credits daily coaching programs for children with incarcerated parents, helping inmates gain job skills, helping find employment opportunities for people after they've served time, and asking officials and deputies to focus on serious or violent crimes as opposed to locking people up for long periods due to drug possession or other low level offenses.