January 8,2009 – BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) - A federal judge has ordered the release
of an Alabama sheriff he locked up for purposely feeding inmates
skimpy meals so he could make money off the jail kitchen.
U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon issued a brief order Thursday
saying Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett could be freed based on
promises from his lawyer, who presented the court with a plan for
improving the jailhouse meals.
The sheriff's whereabouts weren't immediately clear. But Clemon
ordered his arrest late Wednesday after a hearing in which Bartlett
said he made $212,000 over three years by cheaply feeding
prisoners, some of whom complained of constant hunger in jail.
Bartlett kept the money legally under a Depression-era state law
and said he reported the jailhouse profit on his tax forms as
income.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)