Our sheriff put in federal lockup

[dolfan]

Well, it's on Drudge Report, too.

Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett was held in contempt of court yesterday for failing to show that he'd complied with an earlier court order to implement a minimally nutritious meal plan for prisoners.

Let me put it the real way: He was feeding them oats and toast, baloney sandwiches and corn dogs, and practically starving them to death, so the judge found. And, because that amounted to a deprivation of a basic civil right to receive a minimal meal that meets basic nutrition needs, he had to stop it and show the court that he was implementing a basic meal plan to meet those needs or go to jail. He didn't do what he was ordered to do, and the judge put him in custody yesterday.

In Alabama, and this is legal, the sheriff gets complete control over his jail's food budget, and whatever he doesn't spend on food for prisoners he gets to keep for his own personal pecuniary gain. Crazy? Yup. Legal? Yup. And, Greg Bartlett is being made an example because sheriffs in almost every county in this state line their pockets with money that should be spent on prisoners' food. As it is, jail inmates in county lockups in Alabama do not get fed to meet even the most minimal and basic of dietary standards. This is a message that other sheriffs could wind up in similar jams if the State Legislature doesn't change the law to require these funds to be spent on inmates' food.

What happens is that the State funds X amount of the sheriff's salary, which in Alabama is not all that much. Counties fund the rest. But even that is not much to get a man who is half qualified for the job to run for election for it. So, the pot gets sweetened by allowing sheriffs to pocket unspent inmate dietary money, which is funded largely by each county. It gets pretty sweet for the sheriffs.

So, that's two guys in one week in local high ranking law enforcement in this town who have landed in jail for different reasons.

[DaJudge]

You'll have to excuse me if my heart does not exactly bleed for the poor inmates forced to eat corndogs.

[Dr. Ron]

I am with dajudge on this one.

I eat oatmeal and toast every morning of my own choice BECAUSE it is healthy. And bologna sandwiches are great. And corn dogs.....wow....

I think prisoners should actually be in Jail.....beans and bread. Protein in the beans ....starch in the bread.

I had a revival with a pastor in Georgia one time who had the same deal with his church. They gave him x dollars a day to feed the evangelist and what ever he was able to save, was his.

I ate corn flakes for breakfast.....he put them in the bowl for me......"bologna" sandwiches for lunch everyday and then at dinner we ate spagatti. To this day you will not get me to eat spagatti.

So, I kinda know how these things go.

[MacUser]

Note to Morgan County:

Don't go to Jail. Do your very best to not do criminal things.

If for some stupid reason you actually go to jail and forced to eat corn dogs.. and get out. Don't get put back in jail again for the fear of eating corn dogs.

Be very, very glad it's not like the Arizona sheriff that makes you live in tents in the blazing sands compound and do physical labor in pink women underwear. Be very happy with the corn dog.

[DeWayneTN]

corn dogs are yummy, but I guess they would get old after a while. Note to self: remove 'life of crime' as a career option.

Hey, wasn't there a story last year about an inmate suing the warden for making him eat cold meals and that he was "wasting away," having lost 50 of his 350 pounds or something?

[Dr. Ron]

My wife has worked in the prison system for 10 years. She was with Internal Affairs for 7 of those years....

You would not believe the things inmates come up with. One man sued the state because the warden moved his lover to another cell and ruined his "conjugal opportunities". He won.......50k and got his lover back.....

I think they all need to eat bread and water for 10 days then hot stew for 1 day and go back to the bread and water.....

I worked as Chaplain in Atlanta Federal for two years.......they lived better than I did.

[Pastor Bill]

My wife has worked in the prison system for 10 years. She was with Internal Affairs for 7 of those years....

You would not believe the things inmates come up with. One man sued the state because the warden moved his lover to another cell and ruined his "conjugal opportunities". He won.......50k and got his lover back.....

I think they all need to eat bread and water for 10 days then hot stew for 1 day and go back to the bread and water.....

I worked as Chaplain in Atlanta Federal for two years.......they lived better than I did.

Yeah I've heard some of the stories, my Father in Law has worked in the prison system in GA for years.

Dr. Ron, when do you work in Atlanta? didn't happen to know a Mike Phillips did you?

[DaJudge]

They ought to be glad they're not being fed "nutraloaf". It's a food some sheriff's are using to punish behavior problems. Here's the recipe:

A mixture of cubed whole wheat bread, nondairy cheese, raw carrots, spinach, seedless raisins, beans, vegetable oil, tomato paste, powdered milk and dehydrated potato flakes.

It's a complete meal, but inmates say it's so awful they'd rather go hungry.

Act up, eat nutraloaf. Sounds just fine to me.

[Dr. Ron]

I worked in Atlanta from 70-72. Don't recall the name.

[MacUser]

One man sued the state because the warden moved his lover to another cell and ruined his "conjugal opportunities". He won.......50k and got his lover back.....

See this is why I want open a Department of Common Sense. [ REJECTED ]

[DaJudge]

Here's a quote from the AJC article on Dolfan's sheriff:

Alice Hines, who has two sons in the jail on drug charges, said she gives them all the money she can — $50 sometimes, $100 others — to buy food from the jail store so they won't go hungry. Prisoners are even forced to buy basics like salt, pepper and ketchup to spice up bland meals.

Let's all see if we can muster up a tear for Alice Hines' two druggie sons.

[dolfan]

Actually, I was surprised to learn that corn dogs and baloney sandwiches were not nutritious enough, too. I'm not exactly sure how often they get meat. One lady who worked in the jail stated that during the whole time she worked there (and was it days? weeks?) she never saw or served a single piece of meat. Now, if that's the case, there's a problem --- if she was there for long at all.

I know no one has any pity on these prisoners. I won't argue that except to say that Jesus does. We all have really bad consequences for dumb, stupid, immoral, fill-in-the-blank choices we make. Many more of us have bad consequences when we DON'T make those kinds of choices (like, um, peasants in the Third World, for example). So, I'm not singing kumbayah for these people in jail.

BUT .... BUT .... we do have a constitution. And, that constitution says that we are not to be deprived of life without due process of law. It is ironic that one state Supreme Court has found that a prisoner has no right not to be force-fed if he is on a hunger strike that could lead to his death. No one has argued that inmates are dying from Alabama's law or Sheriff Bartlett's use of it, but it would certainly be absurd to argue that while you can't refuse food to the extent it harms you, you can be refused basic nutrition even if it does result in poorer health. In Missouri, a female inmate had a constitutional right to be transported to get an abortion. But, a sheriff has a right to deprive a prisoner of basic nutrition??? No, I have to admit that I'm going resist that notion.

Finally, there is this little thing called precedent. And, yes, that is a central principle of federalism (read: conservative, limited government). The Eighth Amendment confers upon prison inmates a right to "nutritionally adequate food that is prepared and served under conditions which do not present an immediate danger tothe health and well being of the inmates who consume it." Ramos v. Lamm, 639 F.2d 559, 571 (10th Cir. 1980); Gerber v. Sweeney. No. 02-241, 2003 WL 1090187, at * 2 (E.D.Pa. Mar. 7,2003). While prisons may restrict the number of meals per day to two instead of three, they must meet recognized daily nutritional requirements. Green v. Ferrell, 801 F. 2d 765 (5th Cir. 1986).

Whether we like it, approve of it, or don't care, inmates and prisoners are not cut off from the constitution by virtue of having been convicted and imprisoned. Moreover, in county jails sit many people who cannot make bond or who violated conditions of bail and haven't yet been found guilty. The question is much more essential to our nation's constitutional fidelity than to just write 'em off because they're in jail.

[DaJudge]

First off, the majority of inmates in local jails are there for less than 30 days. Virtually all of them are there for less than a year. Nobody is going to die from a boloney and corndog diet for that amount of time.

Nobody is arguing that they should starve, but neither should they have anything more than the rock bottom basic sustenance.

I'll agree with you on one thing, the sheriff being able to line his own pockets with the savings is a stupid system. The savings should be passed on to the taxpayers.

That being said, Dr. Ron's bread, water, and pintos idea doesn't sound bad to me.

[dolfan]

First off, the majority of inmates in local jails are there for less than 30 days. Virtually all of them are there for less than a year. Nobody is going to die from a boloney and corndog diet for that amount of time.

Nobody is arguing that they should starve, but neither should they have anything more than the rock bottom basic sustenance.

I'll agree with you on one thing, the sheriff being able to line his own pockets with the savings is a stupid system. The savings should be passed on to the taxpayers.

That being said, Dr. Ron's bread, water, and pintos idea doesn't sound bad to me.

Hey, if bread, water and pinto beans makes the cut, then okie dokey with me. I could stand that diet, probably, myself. I think, though, that the judge finds what is happening in Morgan County, Alabama is not up to the requirements of the law, be that starvation or rock bottom basic sustenance or something else. Personally, I figure a 1,000-1,200 calorie per day diet with your basic food pyramid nutrition is probably about right.