BOSSIP Exclusive: Alabama Sheriff Arrests Blacks To Bring In Profits

Under Alabama state law, the recommended bail range for “Class B” felonies like “Unlawful Distribution of a Controlled Substance,” is $5,000 to $30,000.

The Alabama Constitution specifically bars setting unreasonably high bails: “That all persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses, when the proof is evident or the presumption great; and that excessive bail shall not in any case be required.”

Pickens County District Attorney Chris McCool levied 307 charges of “Unlawful Distribution of a Controlled Substance” in 2015 during its “War On Drugs,” but didn’t charge a soul with the crime in the previous year, state court records show.

In contrast, nearby Marengo County, which has a similar population, demographic and income level, reported just 11 arrests for “Unlawful Distribution of a Controlled Substance” this year, and 31 in 2014. The county court reported $5,300 in revenue from bails and bonds for all criminal arrests in 2014. In 2015, it made $1,031, according to the county’s circuit court.

McCool did not respond to BOSSIP’s requests for comment.

Missouri state lawmakers have already proposed capping the amount of revenue that a municipality can squeeze from its residents through traffic tickets, according to the New York Times. Legislators proposed the traffic ticket bill after residents complained of heavy-handed policing and fines in the wake of police shooting unarmed Ferguson, Mo. teen Michael Brown.

Mother of two Tabitha Whitten, 33, said she was wrongly arrested and charged for trafficking synthetic marijuana. Whitten said she’s had to sell her car, boat and her camper in order to make her $40,000 bail.

But not before she said she had a humiliating experience at Pickens County Jail: a guard forced her expose herself to him in exchange for food.

“They would give us a bag of donuts if we showed them our boobs and our butt,” Whitten said, adding that she was being underfed in jail and once found a bullet in the jail meat. “It’s awful. It’s violating. They are supposed to be law enforcement. They knew we were hungry and they used us for their advantage.”

Three jail guards were subsequently fired and indicted on theft and ethics charges.

NAACP officials told BOSSIP that they tried to visit the jail to confirm the conditions, but said Sheriff Abston denied their visit.

Whitten rejected the prosecution’s plea deal to serve a year in prison; she heads to trial in November.