BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- A federal judge has ordered the release of an Alabama sheriff he locked up after ruling that the sheriff purposely fed jail inmates skimpy meals so he could profit from state funds.

U.S. District Judge U.W. Clemon issued a brief order Thursday saying that Morgan County Sheriff Greg Bartlett could be freed based on promises from his lawyer, who presented the court with a plan for improving the jailhouse meals.

The sheriff's whereabouts weren't immediately clear. But Clemon ordered his arrest late Wednesday after a hearing in which Bartlett said he made $212,000 over three years by cheaply feeding prisoners, some of whom complained of constant hunger in jail.

Bartlett kept the money legally under a Depression-era state law and said he reported the profit on his tax forms as income.