Legal Commentary

Skimping on Inmate Meals Profits AL Sheriffs

By TChris

Shame on Alabama:

Back in the day of chain gangs, Alabama passed a law that gave sheriffs $1.75 a day to feed each prisoner in their jails, and the sheriffs got to pocket anything that was left over. More than 80 years later, most Alabama counties still operate under this system, with the same $1.75-a-day allowance, and some sheriffs are actually making money on top of their salaries. ...

Critics charge that Alabama is, in effect, paying law enforcement to skimp on food and may be rewarding sheriffs for mistreating prisoners.

"Critics charge"? We should all be critical of laws that reward the mistreatment of prisoners. Does anybody out there think this is sound public policy? (more...)

Consider inmate nutrition:

A prisoner advocate said he constantly hears complaints about jail food. "Most of it is like powdered food, and the portions are minimal in the county jails," said the Rev. Kenneth Glasgow, who visits Alabama jails to register prisoners to vote.

Unsurprisingly, the sheriffs disagree, pointing to seemingly nutritious menus. Should we believe them? Consider accountability:

The head of the Alabama Department of Examiners of Public Accounts, Ron Jones, said state auditors cannot determine how much some sheriffs are making off the system because the lawmen put the money in personal accounts.

How they make a profit on $1.75 per inmate per day is a mystery, although a late night arrest followed by an early morning release nets the sheriff $3.50 without having to feed the arrestee a crumb. Is it smart to give sheriffs a financial incentive to encourage their deputies to make late night arrests on dubious charges that may never be prosecuted?

Now consider the excuses:

"These people eat better here than they eat on the street, and they eat three times a day," [Sheriff] Shaver said.

Well, they only get two meals a day on weekends and holidays, at least in Limestone County, but who's counting? And why should we assume, as Sheriff Shaver apparently does, that all his prisoners were living on the street before they were arrested, or that prison grub is better than the meals they might find at a homeless shelter?

The $1.75 fee was set in 1927. It should be scrapped and replaced with an adequate meal budget that, like the rest of the Sheriff's departmental expenses, is approved and funded by a legislative body. Allowing sheriffs to profit from funding that is already too meager is deplorable. Shame on Alabama for continuing this loathsome policy.

Full post as published by TalkLeft on May 17, 2008 (boomark / email).