Under the amendment, Etowah County Sheriff Jonathon
Horton and Marshall County Sheriff Phil Sims will be able to use all money
leftover from a designated
food fund on law enforcement purposes such as new equipment or staff
positions. Legislation passed in May 2019 limited that figure to 25 percent,
and required that the rest of the money be transferred to the next year.
Critics of the plan say they are concerned that the
new rules will lead
to sheriffs misusing the funds and cutting back on prisoner meals to
pay for other needs. “It does certainly seem to run counter to the intent of
the legislation, which is money to feed people should be spent on feeding
people with only a small fraction going elsewhere,” said Carla Crowder,
executive director of advocacy group Alabama Appleseed, which filed a lawsuit on
the issue in 2018 along with the Southern Center for Human Rights.
“This incentivizes them once again to underfeed people
in their custody if they know the extras can be used on bells and whistles or
guns,” she added.
Horton told The Appeal: Political Report that he hopes
to use any surplus money to pay for more school resource officers, law
enforcement officers from the sheriff’s office who work in schools. Studies
have found that
putting more police officers in schools increases arrests for nonviolent
behavior, and make public school students more exposed to criminal charges. The
county expanded the
program last year, but he said there are still not enough officers for each
school.
Horton took over the Etowah County sheriff’s office
last year after ousting Todd Entrekin, who became known as the “beach house
sheriff.” During his tenure, Entrekin pocketed roughly $750,000 from jail food
funds and bought a $740,000 beach house while prisoners said they were served
rotten lettuce, beans, and noodles, an
AL.com investigation found. Another sheriff kept $212,000 from the
food fund while serving prisoners corn dogs for each meal for weeks.
As part of the legislation passed last year, the state
increased its payment to $2.25 from $1.75 per inmate per day and required that
sheriffs put the money in a separate public fund. Previously, sheriffs could
keep the money in a private fund to use at their discretion.
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