How Secure Is the Sheffield City Jail?

Jail? Not Secure in Sheffield

By:  The Midnight Rider

Last week, we wrote an article about how the City of Sheffield was like a soap opera. We focused on several of the different Departments, mainly the Police Department. Well, the day after this article was published, there was an inmate who decided to leave the jail.

First let’s see what Webster’s Dictionary has to say:

Definition of jail

1: a place of confinement for persons held in lawful custody; specifically: such a place under the jurisdiction of a local government (such as a county) for the confinement of persons awaiting trial or those convicted of minor crime.

Okay, a jail should be secure. The Times Daily reported the prisoner was making a phone call and then ran out the side door. So I reached out to a source within the Department and asked about this. I was told:

“The phone is about 10 feet from the side door. The Door is card operated to enter but not secured on exit. So basically anyone can just walk out of the door.”

My next question is where the Jailer, Officer or Supervisor working the jail that day was. Is there more than one that works the jail at one time? Were they not watching this prisoner?

Now the prisoner was captured 90 minutes later. But the basis of this article is why did it happen in the first place?

That’s it for now. But remember, the Midnight Rider will always be around to voice his/her/their(?) opinion.

I am and always will be, the Midnight Rider.

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Another excellent commentary by the Midnight Rider! We do have to ask about the door with the carded entry. Unless it's an old Charles Bronson movie, not too many people try to break into jails, so why does this system work only to keep intruders out?

Tim Milam Gives 30K to His Campaign

While other Democratic candidates for the Colbert County District Judgeship have given their campaigns between one and three thousand dollars, the ShoalsInsider is reporting that Tim Milam has bankrolled his attempt to succeed Judge George Carpenter with thirty thousand of his own bucks. Perhaps this is why Milam is so sure of a place in the run-off that his campaign is sponsoring at least one event after the June 1st primary.

Our sources show Chad Coker and Tina Parker as the front-runners, but the election is still four weeks away. We're looking for an expensive media blitz from Milam. Wonder if his ads will mention that he had the forethought to have children?

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Apparently family members of those currently housed in Sheffield City Jail have complained about the lack of three meals a day. While penal institutions in the State of Alabama are required to furnish only two meals per day, all other jails in the area manage to offer the standard three.

A spokesman for the city states that the diminished number of meals is due to the high census of prisoners currently incarcerated in Sheffield. We doubt that this city has more prisoners than any other jail in the Shoals; perhaps the dietitian needs a few pointers on stretching food dollars?

More to the point, do prisoners deserve three meals a day? There's a great variety of inmates in local jails. We personally feel that child molesters should be beaten every hour on the hour for the duration of their stay, and that's just for starters.

Yet not all prisoners are on the same illegal and immoral plane as those who use children for their personal perverted pleasure. Many who are incarcerated have made a mistake--a mistake they will never make again. These people do not deserve to be starved just because they're at the mercy of the state, county, or city. We suggest that Sheffield City Jail administrators rethink their policy.


Tomorrow: More on the race for Alabama Senate Place 1

Shoalanda