From: Sharon Krieg
Columbus
I regularly attend Bartholomew County commissioners meetings. Each meeting is started with a Christian prayer. At the meeting on June 9th, a representative from the Bartholomew County Sheriff’s office made a request to use “commissary funds” to purchase equipment for the sheriff’s department.
Commissary funds are monies paid by people who are incarcerated to buy items such as snacks and toiletries. Any monies above the cost of goods are put into this fund and can be used at the discretion of the sheriff’s department — a slush fund for the sheriff.
I questioned if it is really necessary for the county to make money off those who are incarcerated. The response from one of the commissioners was that it was perfectly fine. If an employee of the county has to pay $1.75 for a can of pop from a vending machine, why shouldn’t an incarcerated person pay the same amount?
I’m not certain where the profits from the vending machines in county office buildings go, but I don’t remember hearing that any of that money is being used to buy equipment for the county.
According to a recent article in The Republic, the county currently has millions of dollars in a “rainy day” fund. It seems to me that it really isn’t necessary to make extra cash off the most vulnerable people. This is particularly true in the jail, where most of the inmates have not been convicted of a crime. They have only been accused of a crime but don’t have the means to post bond in order to be released prior to trial.
This doesn’t seem like the most Christian way of handling the situation.
I will say that the commissioners are like their Republican brothers and sisters in state and federal government who continue to take from the poor and give to the rich.
