Alabama ~ Again :shock:

Sheriff jailed for pocketing money meant for inmate meals
By Ashley Broughton


(CNN) -- A federal judge ordered a north Alabama sheriff jailed this week, saying the lawman intentionally served jail inmates "woefully insufficient" meals in order to pocket more than $200,000.

Morgan County, Alabama, Sheriff Greg Bartlett was ordered to jail Wednesday by U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon in Birmingham.

After a Wednesday hearing, Clemon found Bartlett in contempt of court, saying he had failed to comply with an consent decree in the 2001 lawsuit regarding conditions at the Morgan County Jail, according to documents filed in the case.

Clemon ordered Bartlett released from the federal Talladega Correctional Facility the following day after the sheriff's attorneys pledged to provide better and healthier meals to inmates.

At issue is an Alabama law that attorneys for the inmates claim provides sheriffs with an incentive to skimp on feeding inmates. Under the law, sheriffs are permitted to keep -- as personal income -- money left over after purchasing food for inmates.

The state provides sheriffs with $1.75 per day per inmate for food, according to the Alabama Attorney General's Office. However, in a March 2008 opinion, the office affirmed that sheriffs may legally keep what is left over.

"There is no minimum amount of money that the Sheriff must spend on food," said court documents filed by Melanie Velez, an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, representing the inmates. "Statutory permission to pocket the state's food subsidy does not, however, make it acceptable for the Sheriff to provide less than an adequate amount of food to detainees at the jail."

Calls to Velez and Bartlett's attorney, Donald Rhea, on Friday were not immediately returned. The Morgan County Sheriff's Office said that a news conference was planned for Friday afternoon and that a statement could be issued.

A consent decree filed in September 2001 with the court requires Bartlett to serve "a nutritionally adequate diet" to inmates.

However, Clemon wrote in court documents that a typical breakfast for county inmates was a serving of grits or unsweetened oatmeal; half an egg or less, sometimes cold; a slice of white bread; and unsweetened tea or a beverage such as Kool-Aid.

Lunch was either two peanut butter or bologna sandwiches, "with a small amount of peanut butter or an exceedingly thin" slice of bologna between two slices of white bread; a small bag of corn chips; and flavored water or unsweetened tea.

A typical dinner was two hot dogs or meat patties; a slice of bread; and mixed vegetables or baked beans, the judge wrote.

At times, when chicken was served, it was undercooked and pink, Clemon said. Salt, pepper, sugar or other condiments were not provided; they must be purchased by inmates at the jail store.

Inmates never receive milk, Clemon said, and receive fruit only three or four times a year.

The portions, Clemon wrote, are "woefully insufficient to satisfy the normal appetites of adult males. After eating each meal served by the Jail staff, the inmates remain hungry. Some inmates complain of recurring hunger pains." Many inmates have lost weight, he said, some of them as much as 50 pounds.

Inmates complain that they get enough food only by buying more at the jail store, the judge said, noting that some have spent as much as $100 there.

In 2007, the judge said, Bartlett and the sheriff of a neighboring county both paid $500 for half a tractor-trailer full of hot dogs. "They were served to the inmates at each meal until they had been depleted," Clemon wrote. Other inmate food was donated in bulk by schools and other locations, and the sheriff did not pay for it, the judge said.

Meanwhile, since he took office in 2003, "Sheriff Bartlett has deposited in excess of $200,000 to his personal account from the funds allocated to him by the State of Alabama and the federal government for the feeding of inmates," Clemon wrote. Last year, Bartlett made $95,000, the judge said.

"Sheriff Bartlett admits that he could double the food portions served to inmates of the Morgan County jail without significantly increasing his food expenditures," Clemon wrote.

"The court finds by clear and convincing evidence that Sheriff Greg Bartlett has converted to his personal use and benefit state and federal funds allocated for the feeding" of prisoners.

In an order filed Friday, Clemon noted that the sheriff, through his attorney, has pledged to use all state and federal funds for feeding inmates in the future, and that "fresh fruit, fresh milk, vegetables and whole grains will be a regular part of the monthly menu."

Daily meals will follow the USDA's Food Guide Pyramid, Clemon said, and condiments will be provided.

In a similar case in south Alabama, Mobile County Sheriff Jack Tillman pleaded guilty to two misdemeanors, perjury and an ethics offense, and resigned in 2006, agreeing to repay some of the $13,000 he shifted from a jail "food fund" to his personal retirement account, according to the Mobile newspaper Lagniappe.

All AboutAlabama

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

What a SNAKE!
I hate a FREAKIN THIEF!
The people of that County should have him removed.
He only had to do a Day in a Federal Facility. Bet he got fed way better there. I think that he should have done a Day in "Tent City" People like this really pi$$ me off. No freakin CLASS !!!

Greedy A$$ MuthaFers' ~ The very reason that Our Economy is in The Crapper . . . ARGH !!!

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

I know Greg Bartlett....he's the sheriff of the county I reside in. Please allow me to clarify this issue, as the press, as usual, is not reporting correctly.

1st of all, all 67 county Sheriff's are LEGALLY ALLOWED to keep any leftover monies ear marked on prison food as provided for by a 1939 state law.

What Sheriff Bartlett was arrested for was a contempt of court allegation resulting from a 2001 class action lawsuit brought by jail inmates back then. Sheriff Bartlett had complied with most of that court order, but upon inspection/audits some minor infractions were discovered and so the judge ordered him arrested more to teach him a lesson than anything else.

Right now, 52 of the 67 sheriff's profit from the jail food program, 15 sheriff's have chosen not to.

Welcome to Alabama Politics....

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River City Associates
Decatur, Al. 35601

NOPE ~ He is a GAMFS
and I doubt that it is an Alabama Specific occurrance
I find it shameful that they would abuse the power that they have over others, absolutely shameful.

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

While I do not believe in cruel and inhumane treatment of captive people, and apparently this is well publicized, don't break the law there, it is your option. This may very well be a deterrent to crime!

Scott

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R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

SCOTT If he will treat a 'human' like that, just imajine what he would allow to be done to an animal
I do know that there are some humans that 'Society' would best be served if they did not breath air . . . but still. For someone to make such a profit off of creating misery for someone that is already at ones' mercy ~ well that is, just wrong.

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

Luvonda,
They did not state that any of the people in his jails were Pit Bulls! Think how much money he could make if nobody got arrested! He could keep the entire budget...hmmmm. Maybe he should go and see Sheriff Joe Arpaio, for lessons on money management and positive press.

Love you big Sis!

Scott, carrying around a bucket of sympathy...Go soft or go home!

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R.E. "Scott" MacLean III

"Leaders are like Eagles, you never see them in a flock, but one at a time"

Chesapeake Group Investigations, Inc.
Chesapeake Bail Bonds
877-574-0500
301-392-1100 (fax)
301-392-1900 (Office)

Lil Bro, My 'Bucket of Sympathy' ran DRY a longtime ago.
Trust me, NOBODY would want for me to be Judge for a day, much less the Sheriff

Love your Big Sis, aka "PitBull"

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN

I think any "system" that allows for personal gain at the loss to others is potentially open to abuse and is wrong. These prisoners probably got about the same meals as are served in most jails, but because of the way the law is written, it was deemed wrong because he profited from it. Just how many of these people really ate "fresh fruit" or in any nutritious manner before being confined?

My jail serves cold cereal for breakfast during the week, pancakes or waffles on the weekends. Lunch is a bologna sandwich and soup. Supper comes from the local hospital. Caffienated beverages are limited to like one cup of coffee a day, served at breakfast. They don't want the inmates overly hyper. This is what I have heard from the inmates, and seen when I have been there while meals are being served. The portions are good sized, and seconds are given according to the supply.

I'm pretty sure that what they are served is as good as (if not better than) what they ate on the outside. I seldom eat 3 full meals a day, and am lucky if I get to do more than maybe grab a snack for the most part of some days. I get hungry, but then get busy or distracted, so don't have time or just forget to eat. I think we all do the same.

So, being given three meals a day, whether the inmate likes what is provided or not, is something that not everyone gets. We don't get gourmet meals, so why should they? We buy what we can afford and choose to buy, so why should the taxpayers be forced to pay for inmates to eat better than they can? The only problem that I see is that this guy was allowed to profit by doing what jails all over the country do. If you take away his profit, he did nothing wrong.

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Kathy Blackshear
Blackshear Investigations
Blackshear Bail Bonds
Sales Associate, Prepaid Legal Services, Inc.
Walsenburg, CO

Proud Member of the AB Reject Club

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Do not consider anything for your interest which makes you break your word, quit your modesty, or inclines you to any practice which will not bear the light, or look the world in the face .... Marcus Antonius

I AM Some Folks "KARMA" and A MODERATOR @ FRN