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AL: As His Inmates Grew Thinner, a Sheriff?s Wallet Grew Fatter

By Real Cost of Prisons Project (The Sentencing Project)

January 9, 2009 As His Inmates Grew Thinner, a Sheriff?s Wallet Grew Fatter By ADAM NOSSITER NY Times DECATUR, Ala. ? The prisoners in the Morgan County jail here were always hungry. The sheriff, meanwhile, was getting a little richer. Alabama law allowed it: the chief lawman could go light on prisoners? meals and pocket the leftover change. And that is just what the sheriff, Greg Bartlett, did, to the tune of $212,000 over the last three years, despite a state food allowance of only $1.75 per prisoner per day. In the view of a federal judge, who heard testimony from the hungry inmates, the sheriff was in ?blatant? violation of past agreements that his prisoners be properly cared for. ?There was undisputed evidence that most of the inmates had lost significant weight,? the judge, U...continue to full post

Full post as published by The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog on January 09, 2009 (boomark / email).