Todd Entrekin is the sheriff of Etowah County in Alabama and has been since being elected in 2010, though he has served in the office since 1982.
As sheriff, Entrekin's yearly salary is $93,000, yet somehow he and his wife, Karen own over $1.7 million in property, including a recently purchased beach home priced at $740,000. Just how have he and his wife been able to buy these properties?
State documents submitted by Entrekin show that he has, during the last three years, pocketed over $750,000 in public funds originally allocated to feeding the county's inmates.
Even worse - all indications show that what Entrekin did was completely legal under Alabama law.
In the Depression Era, Alabama enacted a statewide bill that allowed county sheriffs to personally claim money from the inmate food fund legally – after all, as per this law, it was actually the sheriff who personally managed the account. This was done regardless of the fact that the money placed in it is often a combination of federal, state and local taxpayer dollars.
While sheriffs are legally required to disclose how much they take from the food fund legally, the antiquated law specifically states that a maximum of $250,000 can be disclosed yearly. As for Entrekin, because of this stipulation, it is highly likely that over the past three years he has claimed more than $750,000. How else has he and his wife been able to afford their $1.7 million properties?
This seemingly obscure law is still technically on the books for most Alabama counties, though several have sensibly decided to do away with it.
Residents of Etowah County will be voting whether or not to re-elect Entrekin as sheriff later this year. Rainbow City Police Chief Jonathon Horton, who is seeking to challenge Entrekin, has criticized his opponent for a lack of transparency during his tenure. Horton has also said that excess funds should not be pocketed by the sheriff but instead "should go toward things that benefit the taxpayer" and "shouldn't be used as a bonus check."
It seems abundantly clear that regardless of the original intention of the law, a century later many things have changed – and so should this law. Please sign this petition to make sure the law is repealed.
It necessarily creates an incentive to fiscally cut corners when it comes to feeding inmates in Alabama. The lower the quality and quantity of food, the lower the cost – and the lower the cost, the more money there will be left over for the sheriff to deposit in his or her bank account.
On another more general level, this law fosters a relationship where the sheriff and the sheriff's office see their inmates not as people, but as a path to a full bank account. It encourages the dehumanization of Alabamans who run afoul of law enforcement.
With this in mind, it seems abundantly clear that Alabama state lawmakers need to draft and pass legislation to repeal this woefully archaic and corruption-fueling law and restructure how funds are managed and used to feed inmates.
