Starvation for fun and profit
Posted by Ron Coleman on January 8, 2009
There’s so much so wrong here:
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon had court security arrest Morgan County [Alabama] Sheriff Greg Bartlett after dramatic testimony from skinny prisoners about paper-thin bologna and cold grits. The hearing offered a rare look into Alabama’s unusual practice of letting sheriffs pocket money left over from feeding inmates.
The sheriff, who showed no emotion when his arrest was ordered, had testified that he legally kept as personal income about $212,000 over three years with surplus meal money but denied that inmates were improperly fed. . . .
Clemon said the Alabama law allowing sheriffs to take home surplus meal money is “probably unconstitutional” in certain cases, but his ruling was limited to the finding that the court order was violated. It didn’t address whether the law should be overturned.
“He makes money by failing to spend the allocated funds for food for inmates,” Clemon said. . . .
Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama’s 67 counties operate under the system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens. The law pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate.
Come on. What country was this really in? Hey, do they mean Soviet Alabama?
craig mclaughlin said
When I went to college in Alabama 25 years ago one of my running buddies got arrested and thrown into the Lee county jail. For breakfast he was given a pot pie of the type and brand available at the Winn-Dixie for 25 cents or less. A fellow inmate informed him that he’d been in the Lee county lockup for 11 months and had eaten nothing but potpies the entire time. Now I know why.
Though I must admit that on the outrage scale it only rates a 2.
The Outlaw said
I live in Morgan County, Alabama, and I know the hi sheriff. Something that has been overlooked by all the media, is that not only did he pocket $212,000 over a three year period, he also was given supplement funds, from the county, and the state. Last year, there as a story that received a lot of attention with him saying that he fed prisoners on $1.75 a day. In essence, he took $.064 per prisoner, per day, and put it in his bank account. His wife is driving a ’09 BMW. He is driving a $50,000 pickup. Oh! He and his wife have only been married for less than a year. Weeks before their wedding, she filed total bankruptcy. Him with all that money, and he couldn’t help her out. She, by the way, used to be his secretary. He is 20-25 years older than her. During the divorce from his first wife, as a couple they attended a new years eve bash. They arrived in separate vehicles. They had a few drinks, and when she left, the Decatur Alabama police department got an anonymous call about her drinking and driving. This made his divorce more easier. This guy is the lowest of the low.
zach said
soviet? turning a profit is a free market deal!
Ron Coleman said
Zach, there’s a difference between turning a profit in the free market and turning a profit in a government-granted monopoly over other people’s lives!