There is at least one public servant in Alabama who "has found his job very enriching," Trevor Noah said on Wednesday's Daily Show, referring to Etowah County Sheriff Todd Entrekin, who apparently pocketed $750,000 from funds earmarked to feed prisoners and bought a beach house with the money. Buying beach houses is a dead giveaway you're skimming money from work, Noah said, "but maybe the reason the sheriff wasn't trying to hide it is that he didn't care about being caught, because it turns out — and this shocked me when I found it out — in Alabama, it's not against the law."
A pre-World War II law apparently allows sheriffs to pocket any money they don't use on feeding inmates — in other words, "any money you don't use to do your government job, you get to keep for yourself," Noah said. That's a terrible idea, giving "public officials an incentive to do their jobs badly. Like, I don't think it would be a good idea to let firefighters keep any money they save on water." Making matters worse, the reason he turns a profit on the food budget is that he feeds inmates things like oatmeal, white bread, and hard-boiled eggs. "Once you've learned that the sheriff makes money off of prisoners," you hear his enthusiasm for locking people up "in a different light," Noah said. "This guy's unbelievable — he's probably the only person who watched Shawshank Redemption and was inspired by the warden."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
A Man on the Inside: Netflix comedy leaves you with a 'warm fuzzy feeling'The Week Recommends Charming series has a 'tenderness' that will 'sneak up' on you
-
Bread & Roses: an 'extraordinarily courageous' documentaryThe Week Recommends Sahra Mani's 'powerful' film examines the lives of three Afghan women under the Taliban
-
V13: a 'marvelous and terrifying' account of the Bataclan terror trialsThe Week Recommends Emmanuel Carrère's work is 'absolutely gripping'
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box officeSpeed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appealSpeed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproarSpeed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
-
Kevin Hart awarded Mark Twain PrizeSpeed Read He is the 25th recipient of the prestigious comedy prize
-
Is Downton Abbey set to return for a final film?Speed Read Imelda Staunton reveals that a third movie may be in the pipeline
