Memorial wall honors Alabama sheriffs killed in the line of duty Slain Lowndes County Sheriff John Big John Williams was named Sheriff of the Year by the National Sheriff’s Association. The award was presented to Williams’ wife and daughter at the unveiling of a memorial for sheriffs killed in the line of duty. (Source: WSFA 12 News) By Sally Pitts | December 30, 2020 at 5:22 PM CST - Updated December 30 at 6:45 PM
MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WSFA) - A memorial wall to honor Alabama sheriffs killed in the line of duty was unveiled Wednesday in Montgomery.
A plaque lists the names of the 20 sheriffs who lost their lives serving their communities. The idea for the memorial came from Montgomery County Sheriff Derrick Cunningham.
Alabama inmates sleep on floors as jails overcrowded: ‘It’s inhumane.’
Updated Dec 18, 2020;
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Each night for six weeks Dylan Garrard fell asleep beside a toilet on the concrete floor of a jail cell in northeast Alabama.
“The mats are so thin you can feel the concrete through them,” Garrard said in a phone interview a couple of hours after he was released on Tuesday. “They’re about as thick as a kindergarten mat, but some of the foam is missing.”
Garrard, who is 25, said he was one of three men in his cell in the Jackson County Jail. But there were only two beds, so jail staff gave him a mat. There were dozens more like him.