One of the groups filing the suit claims the system of allowing sheriffs to keep money left over after feeding inmates invited corruption:
“This archaic system is based on a dubious interpretation of state law that has been rejected by two different Attorneys General of Alabama, who concluded that the law merely allows sheriffs to manage the money and use it for official purposes not to line their own pockets,” said Aaron Littman, a staff attorney at the Southern Center for Human Rights. “It also raises grave ethical concerns, invites public corruption, and creates a perverse incentive to spend as little as possible on feeding people who are in jail.”
Now a lawsuit has been filed against dozens of sheriffs, including those in these counties in Alabama News Network's part of the state:
Hale, Marengo, Greene, Conecuh, Macon, Wilcox, Elmore, Sumter, Covington, Winston, Crenshaw, Bullock, Autauga, Pike, Marion and Lowndes.
"This archaic system is based on a dubious interpretation of state law that has been rejected by two different Attorneys General of Alabama, who concluded that the law merely allows sheriffs to manage the money and use it for official purposes not to line their own pockets. It also raises grave ethical concerns, invites public corruption, and creates a perverse incentive to spend as little as possible on feeding people who are in jail."
You can read the entire complaint HERE.
The Center also claims:
"It is presently unknown how much money sheriffs across the state have taken because most do not report it as income on state financial disclosure forms. What is clear is that the sums can be significant. One sheriff who did make such a report took more than $250,000 in “compensation” from “food provisions” in both 2016 and 2015. Another sheriff was held in contempt of a federal court in 2017 after removing $160,000 from the jail food account and investing it in a used car dealership."
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