Meal money — the taxpayers’ money allotted to sheriffs to feed inmates — has been on the mind of Alabamians for months since a lawsuit filed by the Southern Center for Human Rights and the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice in January.

The suit was filed against 49 Alabama sheriffs over the practice as part of a long-running dispute over the issue. They seek records showing how much the sheriffs profit from inmate food funds.

“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.

Littman is right. Many sheriffs have over time turned the system into a way to garner extra income. However, not all of the sheriffs have taken advantage of the system. Some of the law enforcement officers feed inmates good meals and use portions of the money to support community initiatives. But the system, despite those who are responsible with the money, sets up a path to unethical behavior and violates the public’s trust.

A shadowy example of misuse of the money is Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin who used about $250,000 of meal money toward the purchase of a home in Orange Beach. Another sheriff sunk money into a failed used car business. And still another sheriff fed inmates wieners while packing money away for himself.

“I don’t change laws, I don’t make the laws,” Entrekin told WBRC. “People don’t like it. Get on their legislators and change the law. I, as the sheriff, have asked them to change the law, I, as the sheriff, have tried to give it back to the county commission on numerous times. They won’t take it. They don’t want it.”

The law has been interpreted to allow excess money to become personal income. That was never the intent. The money is taxpayers’ money that has fallen into a murky realm, creating a headache in the area of trust for many sheriffs.

Cullman County’s Alabama House of Representatives delegation was successful in passing a bill that would undo the old system and create an account for feeding inmates, allowing leftover money at the end of the year to roll over into the next year. The bill also gives the sheriff a pay raise, which is fair considering the huge responsibility of managing a department and a corrections center.

The Alabama Senate has the bill. There is no reason to wait on a solution from the state with the involvement or influence of the Alabama Sheriff’s Association. If that group had wanted a solution, it would have been done long ago.

Morgan County, through a local bill similar to the one for Cullman County, will be coming out from under the old law, provided voters approve the constitutional amendment in November.

Most voters will be quick to eliminate throwing their money into a dark room where there is no accountability. A lot of sheriffs, such as Cullman County Sheriff Matt Gentry, want to see the system changed. We applaud Gentry’s position on this issue and the efforts of local lawmakers to make a change.