• Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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    9 hours ago

    This is an interesting followup piece of the publication that broke the original story:

    https://www.al.com/news/2018/12/heres-how-federal-inmates-made-an-alabama-sheriff-15-million.html

    Some noteworthy pieces of information imho:

    • The total sum “leftover” after underfeeding and badly feeding was in the millions.
    • Keeping the Alabama “leftover” money was legal under state laws, for some crazy reason.
    • They also had a federal contract to keep ICE prisoners, and got federal money for that, which they did not treat separately from the Alabama money.
    • Another Republican (Jonathon Horton) unseated that swine Todd Entrekin in their primaries two to one.

    Then in 2019 the food account was finally made into a public one by the state legislature, 25% of it could still be misappropriated to other law enforcement activity though. Then in 2020 the was a referendum in Etowah county to make that percentage 100%, but I can’t find out how it went in the end. The Gadsen Times are blocked for European readers.

    https://www.al.com/news/2020/03/voters-in-2-alabama-counties-to-consider-jail-inmate-food-funds.html

    • FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world
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      5 hours ago

      What galls me about this, even more than fat sheriffs getting fatter by starving people, is the inference that since they’re following the law it’s all totally okay. I have an ideological problem not just with that statement, but the sentiment behind it.

      • AA5B@lemmy.world
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        4 hours ago

        The part of the article saying they get $2/day to feed prisoners, yet the Sheriff “guarantees they are properly fed” and somehow skims $750,000 out of it

      • Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de
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        5 hours ago

        Yes! The worst was this quote by Entrekin, hiding behind the law acting as if that’s all that matters:

        “It’s the law. I haven’t done anything wrong,” Entrekin said at the time. “If it’s wrong, somebody needs to change the law. I have asked [state legislators] to change the law and they have not changed it.”

        I’m with you on this one, just yesterday on a different post I said as much: https://discuss.tchncs.de/post/25358559/14482392