I've also worked in state prisons and Prison Guards as well as Sheriffs in country jails don't really have it all that bad.
Sheriff profits as Ala. inmates claim lack of foodDECATUR, Ala. - Complaining of paper-thin bologna and cold grits, skinny prisoners testified Wednesday about meals so skimpy and unappetizing they have lost weight behind bars as a federal judge considered Alabama's unusual practice of letting sheriffs profit from feeding inmates.
Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett testified he legally pocketed about $212,000 in three years off the system, which critics say encourages underfeeding prisoners.
Bartlett denied serving small portions just to make money and insisted most inmates gain weight in his jail, which holds about 300.
Sheriffs in 55 of Alabama's 67 counties operate under the same system allowing them to make money operating their jail kitchens. But they historically have provided little information about profits, so the hearing offered a rare look into a practice that dates back to the Depression.
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon held the hearing to determine whether the Morgan County Jail is violating a 2001 agreement that required the sheriff to provide adequate meals to prisoners.
One after another, 10 prisoners told Clemon about receiving meals that are so small they are forced to buy additional snacks from a for-profit store jailers operated inside the lockup. Most of the inmates appeared thin, with baggy jail coveralls hanging off their frames.
Some prisoners testified they spent hundreds of dollars a month at the store, which Bartlett said generates profits used by the jail for training and equipment.
Inmates told of getting half an egg, a spoonful of oatmeal and one piece of toast most days for breakfast, served at 3 a.m. daily. Lunch is usually a handful of chips and two sandwiches with barely enough peanut butter to taste.
"It looks like it was sprayed on with an aerosol can," testified Demetrius Hines, who said he has lost at least 35 pounds in five months since his arrest on drug charges.
Most prisoners said they supplement the sparse meals by spending $20 a week or more on chips, oatmeal pies and other junk food at the jailhouse store.
Some said they buy extra goodies for other prisoners to prevent fights over food.
Prisoners said they never received milk until last week, when attorneys from a human rights center began asking about meals in the jail.
But Sheriff Bartlett said he monitors the jail kitchen and occasionally eats there. He said he was "positive" prisoners are served nutritionally adequate meals, as required under the settlement of a federal lawsuit over conditions at the jail.
Two nutritionists testifying on behalf of the sheriff said the jailhouse menu was proper, and they said some prisoners gain weight in jail.
Morgan County and most of the state operate under a Depression-era law that pays sheriffs $1.75 a day for each prisoner they house and lets the elected officers pocket any profit they can generate.
Bartlett said he personally made about $95,000 last year feeding inmates after also receiving money from the county and the U.S. government for housing federal prisoners. Despite rising food costs, Bartlett said he made a $62,000 profit in 2007 and $55,000 in 2006.
Bartlett said he uses donations and special deals to make money. As an example, Bartlett said he and a neighboring sheriff recently split the $1,000 cost for an 18-wheeler full of corn dogs.
Prisoners testified they ate corn dogs twice a day for weeks and the judge picked up on those complaints in his questioning of Bartlett.
"So until they were used up, they became the staple diet for inmates in the Morgan County Jail?" Clemon asked incredulously.
"Yes, sir," said Bartlett.
Prisoners said they are almost always hungry after meals in the Morgan County jail, but the head of the Alabama Sheriff's Association said inmates always complain about food.
"You're never going to be able to satisfy them," said Bobby Timmons, the executive director of the association.
http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/01/07/20090107jail-food0107-ON.html
