news-record.com

Although a judge sentenced Sidney Lowe II to serve 15 months at the Guilford County prison farm, he's in the jail instead, Sheriff BJ Barnes said this morning.

"I don't put violent felons at the farm," Barnes told News & Record editorial writer Doug Clark on Wednesday. "I can't afford to have people out there who could be a problem."

Read more at Clark's News & Record blog Off the Record.

Lowe's attorneys released this statement:

Doug Clark, editorial writer at the News and Record interviewed Guilford Sheriff B. J. Barnes regarding the sentence of 15 months confinement at the Guilford County Farm rendered by Judge Henry Frye on Tuesday, July 15, 2008, in State of North Carolina v. Sidney Lowe, II. This is the response of Locke T. Clifford and Joseph B. Cheshire,V, attorneys for Sidney Lowe, II:

"We told the jailers that we were concerned for Sid's safety in the jail where he was being held for processing prior to being transferred to the county farm to serve his sentence. He has been receiving threats and being called a "snitch" by some inmates. Sheriff Barnes wisely put Sid in protective custody and we greatly appreciate it. Sid was scared out of his mind and used some scraps of plastic and metal which he found in his cell to try to make something with which to defend himself in case of an attack. He did not try to hide it from the jailers. We are sure that he will soon earn Sheriff Barnes's confidence and will be sent to the county farm to finish serving his sentence."