Hill claims the jail is now troubled and says he can no longer endorse Sheriff Levon Allen in this year’s crowded election. That left county political enthusiasts to wonder whom of the three other candidates he might support.
And, for that matter, would that endorsee even want Hill’s blessing?
Hill was “retired,” as he puts it, in 2022 when a federal jury convicted him of violating detainees’ civil rights. One was a citizen in another county who yelled at the sheriff on the phone and soon found himself strapped to the punishment chair in Hill’s jail.
After “retirement,” Hill was sent to vacation at the Federal Correctional Institution, Forrest City in Arkansas, where he served 10 months of an 18-month sentence. Today he is either in a half-way house or even in his own abode on home confinement.
Wherever it is, he has Wifi.
It’s uncertain why Hill broke with his mentee. It’s not uncommon, though. Friends today, enemies tomorrow. After getting elected in 2004 as the county’s first Black sheriff, he broke bitterly with his mentor, former Atlanta Police Chief Eldrin Bell, who had been elected Clayton’s commission chairman.
Allen, for his part, says god daddy Hill is a power-hungry ex-pol who just can’t let it go.
In his own written response, the current sheriff fired back: “Hill called me from prison attempting to influence me to make certain decisions, which I refused. He is now upset because I refuse to be a political puppet under his control.”
So, the proffered scenario is that a convicted sheriff was trying to run his former jail from prison. It’s not far-fetched; this newspaper has run umpteen stories of prisoners running their old fiefdoms from the inside via cellphone.
“He’s a controlling person and wanted (Allen) to do something,” said Jessie Goree, the county school board chair, who was once a Hill fan but went sideways with him when she offered advice he didn’t want to hear.
“He really needs to take some ownership. The person…
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