Two advocacy groups have sued Alabama sheriffs seeking records about whether sheriffs have profited from jailhouse food programs.

The Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights and the Alabama Appleseed Center for Law and Justice on Monday filed the lawsuit against 49 sheriffs they said did not comply with a public records request.

Alabama law has allowed sheriffs to keep leftover food money. A federal judge in 2009 ordered one Alabama sheriff, nicknamed "Sheriff Corndog" jailed, because he made $200,000 over three years while inmates ate corndogs twice a day.

Alabama Appleseed executive director Frank Knaack said the public has a right to know whether sheriffs "are meeting the basic human needs of incarcerated people in their care, or are instead filling their personal coffers."