Sheriff Jim Bowles Redux

When Bowles first took over the jail from former Sheriff Don Byrd, Madera was handling the commissary, which sells inmates snacks, toiletries and other goods. Bowles said he asked Bob Knowles, his chief jailer at the time and current executive chief deputy with Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, if Madera had provided good service, and he was told Madera was outstanding.

It wasn't until Madera sold to Sammons that the accusations of bribery arose. When the non-compete clause between the two expired, Madera returned to Bowles to bid for the commissary contract as Mid-America Services Inc., joining Sammons and two other companies in the bidding.

Bowles says the decision to choose Madera was simple and had nothing to do with any bribes. Sammons was doing a poor job and the other two companies didn't meet his requirements. His three requirements were that the company provide cart service, have five years experience with a major jail and provide a computerized management service.

Two of the bidders offered bag service as opposed to cart service. Bag service involves officers taking requests, giving them to the contractor, the contractor delivering the items in paper bags, the officers sorting out the bags and delivering them to the inmates and then having to watch them open their bags. Cart service is when the contractor has employees take a cart with products around to the inmates—a much more efficient method.

This left Sammons and Madera. Bowles says Sammons ran the commissary so badly that had his contract not run out, he would have fired him. With a contract as important as the commissary, Bowles went with someone he knew could handle the job.

"If you want a calm jail, a happy jail, you don't screw [inmates] on food, you don't screw them on commissary and you don't screw them on visitations. You treat them square. That was my policy, and I did it," Bowles says. "I needed to get someone in there real quick to fix the commissary. He was the only person that could do it."

Bowles says an important part of running an efficient commissary involves going to the cells six days a week and rotating which cells the carts begin at so everyone gets an equal chance at "the early pickin's." It's also important for the carts to be fully stocked to ensure each inmate is offered the same products as the others.

Sammons ignored these requests, running his carts until they were empty and delivering to one side of the jail on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and the other side on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, Bowles claims. He says Sammons also let the commissary's computer system deteriorate and ran the carts the same route every day.

Bowles was also getting "complaints coming out the gazoo" about Sammons.

Sammons still runs Mid-States, which is based in Fort Worth and provides commissary items to jails in 38 states. He says he met Bowles just one time for approximately two minutes when his contract was about to expire. Sammons confirmed that Madera was working as a consultant for him, but says he was unaware of the lunches between Madera and Bowles.

Sammons also says he was the one who gave Madera's meal receipts to the Morning News, but he was unable to explain if they were for only Bowles' meals or other people's as well. He described the coverage by the paper as "extremely well-researched and accurate."

When asked about Bowles' claims about his problems running the commissary, Sammons says, "I don't have any recollection whatsoever." As for letting the computer systems go downhill, Sammons says, "I don't agree with that, but the man is welcome to his decision. Whatever he wants to say to justify his decision, that's fine with me."

Part of the controversy was that Madera's bid paid the county less for the contract than Sammons', but Bowles stresses that the commissary is not intended to produce revenue for the county. In addition, Madera installed nearly $1 million worth of new computer systems which, among other things, provided barcode readers and receipt printers to make the commissary more efficient.

Bowles, a native Dallasite, wants to put 2004 behind him and focus on making noise in the primary, calling for a Reagan revolution and welcoming Democrats who feel abandoned by their party.

Bowles had a strained relationship with the Dallas County Commissioners Court, but he believes the commissioners are aware that they are part of the problem.

"I think that the reason why they're not working right now at flank speed to reconcile every problem as fast as possible is that they are hoping to get a sheriff in there who knows how to run a sheriff's department and who knows how to run a jail."

Bowles, Cannaday, Mesquite Police Lieutenant Charlie Richmond and Cockrell Hill Police Chief Catherine Smit face off in the Republican primary. Cannaday is considered the front-runner at this point, but Bowles is counting on his experience as sheriff and grassroots effort to push him over the top.