Morgan County, Alabama, Sheriff Greg Bartlett was ordered to jail Wednesday by U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon in Birmingham.

After a Wednesday hearing, Clemon found Bartlett in contempt of court, saying he had failed to comply with a consent decree in the 2001 lawsuit regarding conditions at the Morgan County Jail, according to documents filed in the case.

Clemon ordered Bartlett released from the federal Talladega Correctional Facility the following day after the sheriff’s attorneys pledged to provide better and healthier meals to inmates.

At issue is an Alabama law that attorneys for the inmates claim provides sheriffs with an incentive to skimp on feeding inmates. Under the law, sheriffs are permitted to keep — as personal income — money left over after purchasing food for inmates.

The state provides sheriffs with $1.75 per day per inmate for food, according to the Alabama Attorney General’s Office. However, in a March 2008 opinion, the office affirmed that sheriffs may legally keep what is left over.

“There is no minimum amount of money that the Sheriff must spend on food,” said court documents filed by Melanie Velez, an attorney with the Southern Center for Human Rights, representing the inmates. “Statutory permission to pocket the state’s food subsidy does not, however, make it acceptable for the Sheriff to provide less than an adequate amount of food to detainees at the jail.”

via Sheriff jailed for pocketing money meant for inmate meals – CNN.com.

When Aren was first arrested for this parole violation (almost 2 years ago) he was offered an 8 year deal from the D.A. The deal now is 20,  or of course,  trial on what the D.A. considers a strike out case.

Please contact the District Attorney Ed Wiley and ask him to drop the charges on Aren Jackson for possession of stolen property. Tell him that Arens time should be served and to let him out immediately. There is no reason a man should cost tax payers any more money for a possession of stolen property charge.

Ed Wiley edwiley@da.lacounty.gov

Office (661) 974-7700

The sheriffs’ unions claim the law is bad policy and puts public safety at risk by releasing prisoners early. In addition to argued confusion about whether the new law applies to county prisoners or only state prisoners, there is much confusion around whether the new rules are to be applied retroactively to time served before the law went into effect on January 25.

The lawsuit filed by Crime Victims United of California claims the new law violates provisions added to the state Constitution in 2008, when voters passed Proposition 9, a victims’ rights and parole measure known as Marsy’s Law.

via CA Prisons: Early Release Program Sparks Legal Battles – Legislation & Policymaking – FindLaw Blotter.

Several states require businesses to use the federal E-Verify program, but gen erally only under threat of financial penalties.

In Mississippi, employers who hire illegal immigrants can lose their business license, but illegal immigrants found working there are eligible for a one-year prison sentence.

Under the Utah bill, employ ers who fail to comply could face a class B misdemeanor, punishable by up to six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Bill supporters said enacting the measure would stop iden tity theft and encourage illegal immigrants to leave Utah.

“It’s not a total panacea, but it almost is,” said Senate Bill 251’s sponsor, Sen. Chris Buttars, R-West Jordan.

About 184,000 of the nation’s 7 million to 8 million employers use E-Verify, a Web based system that checks a worker’s information against Department of Homeland Security and Social Security databases to determine U.S. employment eligibility.

via Employers hiring illegal immigrants may be headed to jail | thespectrum.com | The Spectrum.

Scans of an inmate’s eyes appear on a computer monitor attached to the Inmate Recognition and Identification System (IRIS) scanner, Wednesday Feb. 24, 2010 at the Story County Jail in Nevada, Iowa. Dozens of prisons across the country are installing eye scanners that identify inmates to avoid mistakes like this week’s accidental release of a Baltimore prisoner

via Iris scans may prevent mistaken release of inmates – AP News Wire, Associated Press News – Salon.com.

The H.O.P.E. Foundation exists to aide our prisoners educate themselves to a better way of life. Through our comprehensive system of classroom-style training, inmates receive the skills they need to be productive and self-sufficient upon release while learning in a shared-environment setting. Studies focus on the areas of computer and Internet literacy, computerized accounting, business plan development, and the opportunity to expand skill sets through frequent workshops.

via H.O.P.E. Foundation, Inc..

via “Guardian angels” saving inmates from suicide – RT Top Stories.

June Ann Lucena was ordered to repay more than $170,000 to the State Compensation Insurance Fund, Sacramento County prosecutors said Friday. That’s on top of the $244,000 ordered in December for the state’s public employees’ retirement system.

via Former Folsom prison guard to pay more restitution | News10.net | Sacramento, California | Local News .

“I used coke, meth, smoked crack — the whole nine yards,” Schoonover said.

via The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia – Schoonover pitches for rehab, not jail.