Pinal Sheriff Mark Lamb’s office spent $200K on guns and ammo from an ‘inmate welfare' fund - AZ Luminaria
azluminaria.org
The office of Pinal County Sheriff and US Senate candidate from Arizona Mark Lamb spent money meant for inmate welfare on guns and ammunition

The Pinal County Sheriff’s Office run by U.S. Senate candidate Sheriff Mark Lamb has spent at least $217,000 from a jail commissary fund that Arizona lawmakers mandated be used “for the benefit and welfare of inmates” to instead buy a cache of weapons, ammunition and ballistic vests.

The purchases violate state law, criminal justice experts say.

Arizona Luminaria reviewed expenses and revenues from the sheriff’s office inmate welfare fund over a five-year period. From July 2018 to July 2023, the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office spent just over $4 million for inmate services. At least $217,000 of that, or about 5.5%, was spent on guns, bullets and vests for the law enforcement agency, according to county budget documents obtained via a public records request.

Over the same five years, the county spent less than $900 on books for people detained in the jail