Housing Bubble 2: Return of the Ugly

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Sheriff buys beach house with $750,000 meant to feed inmates; three days after the story breaks, sheriff imprisons journalist's source. (www.npr.org)

submitted 9 months ago by SeattleRain@lemmy.world to c/housing_bubble_2@lemmy.world

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[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 42 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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 18 points 9 months ago (3 children)

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.

[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months 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

[–] AA5B@lemmy.world 6 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago) (1 children)

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

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago

The law takes cops' word as gospel, unfortunately.

[–] Badeendje@lemmy.world 5 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I believe it was an old wild west bill still on the books that should have been replaced decades ago.

[–] OminousOrange@lemmy.ca 7 points 9 months ago (1 children)

That doesn't change the fact that these people are pieces of shit.

[–] Flocklesscrow@lemm.ee 3 points 9 months ago

Legality is temporary and blows in the wind.

These people deserve to be held accountable for their actions, by an authority (ie Federals) capable of breaking through the shit layer of corruption and stink.