Lawmakers approve change to jail food funds
Published 9:12 am Wednesday, May 1, 2019
- Inmates prepare dinner at the Cullman County Detention Center
MONTGOMERY (AP) — Alabama lawmakers have voted to end a practice that allowed some sheriffs to pocket leftover jail food funds.
The House of Representatives on Tuesday night voted 102-0 for the bill that changes the flow of jail food funds.
An old state law allowed sheriffs to retain any leftover jail food funds. The practice led to scandals and concerns about whether inmates were being adequately fed.
A federal judge in 2009 briefly jailed a sheriff nicknamed “Sheriff Corndog” for feeding inmates corndogs and little else.
The bill requires the food allowance to go into a separate account that can only be used for feeding prisoners.
It also provides more money for feeding prisoners. However, a House committee stripped a provision that would have built in automatic increases to the daily rate.