Alabama Sheriffs Pocketing Money Meant For Prisoners' Meals

BIRMINGHAM, AL - Alabama lawmakers have certainly had plenty to cover in this year's legislative session, but one issue the legislature will not cover is how to prevent sheriffs from pocketing taxpayer money meant for inmates' meals. Although news of Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin pocketing at least $750,000 of left over jail food money is new, sheriffs using taxpayer money for their personal use is nothing new in Alabama.

In 2005, a Mobile County grand jury indicted Sheriff Jack Tillman for taking food funds to start a retirement account for himself; in 2009, a federal judge briefly jailed Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett after he pocketed $212,000 from the fund, and his successor, Ana Franklin, took $150,000 from public funds. So this is nothing new, but the Southern Center for Human Rights and Alabama Appleseed sent public records requests to counties to see how much money those sheriffs were putting in their pockets.

According to a report by Alabama Media Group, 49 county sheriff's refused the request, and are now fighting the SCHR and Appleseed in court, trying to keep those documents secret. Court records say the sheriffs are arguing that the moment the state sends them the food money it becomes the sheriffs' personal money and that the check registers and ledgers, cancelled checks and such are all their personal information.

It is unclear whether or not the sheriffs have a valid argument, but the Alabama legislature, currently, has nothing on the agenda that would address this issue.

Photo from Etowah County