7 ms·
Alabama Sheriff Legally Took $750,000 Meant To Feed Inmates
- Shivetya 9y agoPeople need to understand the same or similar occur in many localities across the US; I would suspect other countries might have related issues. it is also not confined to law enforcement but many in local and state government have similar setups throw in pension abuse and you would be amazed at the dollars lost to all of this, dollars easily better used for other purposes
- sharemywin 9y agoIt's of course "liberal" media fault...<sarcasm> It's true you should consider the source but, there are probably better ways to do this.
- IAmEveryone 9y agoIf you insist on calling everyone corrupt, you remove all incentives not to be corrupt: after all, why bother if you red-faced constituents will scream invectives at you anyway? By and large, a tiny fraction of civil servants steal from official accounts. This case is a strange consequence of the rather peculiar legal standing of the sheriff’s office, in one particularly backward US state.
- smt88 9y agoMy friend's dad was a cop who "abused" the pension system. He retired at 45 with a full pension and immediately began working in the private sector, essentially giving him dual income. Prior to retiring from the police, he was paid $15k to $35k annually over the course of 20 years (I adjusted for inflation, so those are 2018 dollars). Sometimes "pension abuse" is "getting a fair salary after I've left the job" (not always of course).
- alsetmusic 9y agoHe claims to follow the “letter or the law.” There are many actions within the law that are nevertheless unethical and wrong.
- proactivesvcs 9y agoIt's shameful to see those responsible for upholding the law not acting in the spirit of the law, when it applies.
- ajnin 9y agoThe law says he must "keep and retain" any funds not used to feed inmates. Well he didn't keep nor retain it, he spent it to buy a house. How is this considered "following the letter of the law" ?
- inanutshellus 9y agoHe, uh, retained it in the form of a house?
- IAmEveryone 9y ago“Retain” is probably best interpreted as “not give back”. The law is shoddily drafted, considering “keep” and “retain” are usually synonymous.
- dpark 9y ago> The law is shoddily drafted, considering “keep” and “retain” are usually synonymous. It's a doublet. These are in general very common in laws, though this particular one doesn't appear to be. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legal_doublet
- Brockenstein 9y agoI think you're trying to be overly clever in your definition of the words. The sheriff gets to keep the budget surplus. It's his personal money now. That's what keep and retain means in this context: that it's his money, no ifs, ands or buts. Yes, he is following the letter of the law, like it or not. I think it's crummy and the incentives to shortchange inmates and tax payers seems obvious to me. Alabamers, if they get sick of it, can legislate change if they want... it's on them.
- blattimwind 9y ago> The sheriff gets to keep the budget surplus. It's his personal money now. How on earth is it possible for taxpayer money to legally end up in an official's pocket?
- ransom1538 9y agoRemember: county jail holds people waiting to go to trial. Many of these people have not been convicted. Often these inmates are coerced by their appointed attorney (who is swamped) to waive their right for a speedy trial. Torturing prisoners in the US is bad, but torturing the untried is truly evil.
- Freak_NL 9y agoEthical nit-pick: In degrees of 'evilness' it shouldn't matter whether or not the person being tortured is convicted or not — unless you subscribe to the rather unenlightened notion that condemned criminals by default deserve worse than what the judge handed down as a sentence in a fair trial.
- StavrosK 9y agoIs torturing someone who has committed a hundred murders and someone who has committed no murders ethically equal? I can see both sides of the argument making good points.
- ljm 9y agoIf you consider torture to be ethically bad (which I suspect most would), then it would be strange to make an exception to it and say it's bad except someone did something to deserve it, no? From the position of the person doing the torture, I would find it hard to say that someone else's crime permits me to be less ethical myself, as if committing a hundred murders needs to be balanced out by adding to the crime.
- slededit 9y agoI consider locking other humans up to be ethically bad - but I can't think of anything better than prisons. Something being ethically bad is insufficient to rule it out. The degree of the ethical failure matters, as does the purpose of the action. This will inevitably be read to imply I'm advocating Torture which I am not. I'm merely pointing out that binary ethical/unethical is insufficient.
- dpratt71 9y agoThere is no mention of starvation in the title of the article nor in the text. I'm not sure why it's in the title of the submission. There is a link to a related article "2009: Ala. Sheriff Jailed For Starving Inmates". I assume it's the same article referenced in this article: "In 2009, then-Sheriff Greg Bartlett of Morgan County was briefly tossed in jail after acknowledging that he had personally profited, to the tune of $212,000, from a surplus in the jail-food account. Prisoners testified about receiving meager meals." Still, I don't see the justification for the use of the word "starvation" in that context, either.
- Antimachides 9y agoGood of you to stick up for the Sheriffs.
- nck4222 9y agoIt's not about sticking up for sheriffs. It's about telling the truth without sensationalizing it. What the sheriff did was bad enough, there's no need to embellish.
- gameswithgo 9y ago>there's no need to embellish. You know I feel similarly as you, but with all of the research I have been seeing lately about how propaganda and emotional manipulation are far more effective than facts and reason, perhaps it is the case that to achieve positive change you do need to embellish, or else the forces pushing for negative change, who have no problem embellishing, will win? I don't want this to be true but maybe it is.
- mortenjorck 9y agoIf the outrage over this law is perennial, why on earth hasn’t it become a campaign issue for Alabama state legislature candidates?
- crispyporkbites 9y agoBecause few care about inmates, convicted or not.
- jonballant 9y agoIn general, States from the deep south tend to treat their inmates with far less care than their northern counterparts whether you agree or not.
- pjc50 9y agoIt's Alabama. A majority of the voters are probably in favour of even more brutal and degrading treatment of inmates.
- avs733 9y agobecause they systematically oppress those who have or are likely to suffer from this type of treatment,
- Floegipoky 9y agoSince the end of Reconstruction, prisons have been used throughout the deep south to provide slave labor and enforce white supremacy. The answer to your question is that voters in Alabama have no interest in weakening the tools used to dominate and control non-white populations.
- mrguyorama 9y agoOften because the other person they could vote for is a "liberal"
- Voyage_wanderer 9y agoIn other countries it called corruption. Not in US, because it is legal, what don’t you understand?
- stephengillie 9y agoSmart criminals don't commit crimes; they change laws to make their goals legal and simply act freely.
- crispyporkbites 9y ago> "Sheriffs across the state take excess money as personal income — and, in the event of a shortfall, are personally liable for covering the gap." Does that ever happen? What could cause it to happen? Could the state not just say, "we're reducing your budget by 750k this year, make up the shortfall Mr Sheriff." and he'll have to cough up?
- crispyporkbites 9y agook, this is a little more complex: When Entrekin's predecessor died while still in office, all the money in the food provision account went to his estate — as state law dictated, a county official told NPR. Entrekin had to borrow $150,000 to keep the inmates fed. He was paying down that debt for years, The Gadsden Times reported. In 2009, while he was still in debt from paying for inmates' food, Entrekin told the Times that he personally thought the law needed to be changed. But he noted that it might cost more money for taxpayers if the county commission had to manage jail kitchens through an open bid process. David Akins, the chief administrative officer of the Etowah County Commission, agrees with that assessment. He says the commission is not eager to take on that duty, as some other local governments have done. "The sheriff can feed inmates cheaper than the county can," he said.
- maxerickson 9y agoGiving the sheriff the opportunity to personally profit from providing meals may well create lots of incentive for efficiency, but where's the check that makes sure the food is adequate?.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- bzbarsky 9y ago> Does that ever happen? What could cause it to happen? Please do read to the end of the article. It has happened, with this same sheriff.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- aje403 9y ago"Sheets' investigation has also made headlines because of the arrest of a key source. Sheets spoke with a landscaper named Matt Qualls who mowed Entrekin's lawn in 2015 and noticed the name of the account on his checks — the "Sheriff Todd Entrekin Food Provision Account." He shared pictures with Sheets." "Sheets' initial story was published on Feb. 18. On Feb. 22, Qualls was arrested and charged with drug trafficking after an anonymous call complained of the smell of marijuana from an apartment. Qualls, who had never been arrested before, faces six charges and is being held on a $55,000 bond, Sheets reports. He is detained in a jail that Entrekin oversees." Can we do a cost benefit analysis on Alabama and see if we are in any from profiting from preventing them from seceding?
- avs733 9y agoyou could also...you know...consider your responsibility to the other human beings that are being treated like this.
- aje403 9y agoThank you for your comment. Let me know how you are personally contributing to Alabama and then I will be right behind you.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]
- sremani 9y agoIts very close to port of New Orleans which is the only place in South the British attacked in 1812 war and its capture by Union forces in early half of civil war was pivotal for the outcome of that war. For strategic reasons its absolutely necessary for US to have complete control of Mississippi river system including the mouth of the river. It would be a strategic blunder to let Alabama secede, also as much as HN loves to hate the south, Alabama has over 33% African American population, that has to be kept in mind. The world is not static, before jerking off and spewing words like secession a deep breath and a mindful analysis helps.
- peterwwillis 9y agoLet me guess. This article doesn't count as politics, either.
- jerf 9y agoIt certainly doesn't seem to have any particular HN merit beyond pointing and shrieking at somebody else's problems, no, and it's producing comments that I would consider to either be shading on racism or crossing the line. I've flagged it; feel free to join me.
- meri_dian 9y ago> "A couple people I knew came through the jail, and they say they got meat maybe once a month, and every other day, it was just beans and vegetables," Qualls told Sheets. "I put two and two together and realized that that money could have gone toward some meat or something." That's hardly "starving". This article title is sensational and should be changed. It serves no one to misrepresent the truth, especially in a world dominated by hyperbole and sensationalism. Edit: Those downvoting me, what about my statement do you disagree with?
- tyingq 9y agoPrisons in Texas, right now, move to 2 meals a day on weekends. As far as I know, the money saved isn't pocketed by anyone personally, but it is happening. Inmates that have some support system supplement with commissary purchases. So it's a transfer of what should be government spending to spending by inmate families. The benefit seems to flow to the companies that run the commissary programs.
- JustSomeNobody 9y agoSoon, all of it will be handled by the private sector who will charge the inmate for staying in prison so then we have inmates coming out of prison owing so much money they'll never be able to repay it.
- gscott 9y agoI know one person who went to prison here in San Diego and with extra money he can buy a better food like a breakfast burrito in the morning rather than eating the standard breakfast.
- tyingq 9y agoThat's how, in my mind, the commissary should work. At least in Texas, that's not what actually happens. They will, for example, withhold soap, toothpaste, and toilet paper. Ask yourself why these items are even offered in the commissary. Why would you need "extra"?
- gscott 9y agoThe inmates even have to pay for their shoes. It is to force them to labor for few cents on the dollar.
- LinuxBender 9y agoAre there any historical lessons to be learned from others that have done this in the past? Is that Sheriff putting the lives of other corrections officers and jail staff at risk?
- swarnie_ 9y agoSometimes i find it difficult listing America as a 1st world country. Your law and justice system is ridiculous.
- barsonme 9y agoWe’re a huge country, of course you’re going to find lots of issues. The US is also really good at publicizing the bad stuff we do. But I guess American hate is all the rage these days.
- swarnie_ 9y ago> But I guess American hate is all the rage these days. A decade of war crimes will breed that sentiment yes.
- sctb 9y ago> Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- laythea 9y agoI am absolutely shocked that this is actually still in a law. How backwards for a place to be.
- leesalminen 9y agoThe criminal justice system in this country is broken. I’ve long wondered what I can do to improve it but haven’t figured it out yet. The most common advice I’ve received is to go pass the bar or become a cop. I know “good” people who did this...I no longer consider them good people. The system got to them.