Alabama Food Fight

• Author: Angela Morris
• Pages: 11-11

PHOTOGRAPH BY AP PHOTO/DAVID GOLDMAN; COURTESY OF SOUTHERN CENTER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS

Opening Statements

AUGUST 2018 ABA JOURNAL || 11

Alabama Food Fight

WHEN ALABAMA INMATES ASKED what’s for dinner,

the sad answer was of ten a plate with spoiled meat or

food contaminated w ith rodent droppings.

Meanwhile, the state’s sheri s charged w ith their

upkeep were reportedly pocke ting inmate food funds

—spending the money on things such as bea ch homes,

personal investments, elec tronics and home lawn

services.

These allegations are the ba sis of a lawsuit fi led by

the Southern Center for Human Rights a nd Alabama

Appleseed Center for Law and Justice aga inst 49

Alabama sheri s aft er the SCHR received hundreds

of letters and cal ls from inmates about problems

with food at county ja ils across the state.

“Sometimes it’s an inadequate qu antity of food or

not nutritious,” says Aaron Littma n, a sta attor ney

at the center. “Meat that’s undercooked or spoiled

or rotten, or that has foreign subst ances like dirt or

insects or rodent droppings.”

The defendants have justifi ed the practice of pocke ting

food money under a World War II-era law, Alabama

Code Section 36-22-17, which says sheri s are entitled

to keep allowances t hey receive for feeding prisoners.

But Littman says the inm ate food funds are really public

money—meant to feed inmates—and not for the sheri s

to spend personally.

The SCHR, an Atlanta -based civil rights organiz ation,

requested fi nancial records from the ac cused sheri s

three times in 2017, but the sheri s refuse to disclose

how much food funding they received a nd how much

they kept for personal use, which v iolates Alabama’s

open records law, according to the lawsuit .

“There is t remendous public concern about m isappro-

priation of the money and the e ects it’s having on the

health and well-being of people in jail ,” Littman says.

“People are rightfully concer ned that incarcerated folks,

like other human beings, have a right t o be fed adequate

and nutritious food.”

The defendant sheri s have denied they violated the

law or converted food funds for thei r personal use. They

also claim, among other th ings, that the plainti s la ck

standing, and that sovereig n immunity protects them

from suit.

—Angela Morris

“THERE IS TREMENDOUS PUBLIC CONCERN ABOUT

MISAPPROPRIATION OF THE MONEY AND THE

EFFECTS IT’S HAVING ON THE HEALTH AND WELL-

BEING OF PEOPLE IN JAIL.” —AARON LITTMAN

LAWSUIT ACCUSES

SHERIFFS OF

UNDERFEEDING

IN MATES ,

POCKETING MEAL

MONEY