Jail conditions in an Arizona county

[t-bob]

A friend sent me the following, and to his entire email address book, and in huge font. For some reason it really pissed me off, and I responded. (also included) Am I off base? - don't feel like I am. I don't get steamed up very often.

Update on Joe Arpaio


TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO

HE IS THE MARICOPA ARIZONA COUNTY SHERIFF

AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER





THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio (in Arizona ) who created the "tent city jail":

He has jail meals down to 40 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He stopped smoking and porno magazines in the jails. Took away their weights. Cut off all but "G" movies.

He started chain gangs so the inmates could do free work on county and city projects.

Then he started chain gangs for women so he wouldn't get sued for discrimination.

He took away cable TV until he found out there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails. So he hooked up the cable TV again only let in the Disney channel and the weather channel.

When asked why the weather channel he replied, so they will know how hot it's gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.

He cut off coffee since it has zero nutritional value.

When the inmates complained, he told them, "This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back."

He bought Newt Gingrich' lecture series on videotape that he pipes into the jails.

When asked by a reporter if he had any lecture series by a Democrat, he replied that a democratic lecture series might explain why a lot of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.



More on the Arizona Sheriff:

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record), the Associated Press reports: About 2,000 inmates living in a barbed-wire-surrounded tent encampment at the Maricopa County Jail have been given permission to strip down to their government-issued pink boxer shorts.

On Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing boxers were either curled up on their bunk beds or chatted in the tents, which reached 138 degrees inside the week before.

Many were also swathed in wet, pink towels as sweat collected on their chests and dripped down to their pink socks.

"It feels like we are in a furnace," said James Zanzot, an inmate who has lived in the tents for 1 year. "It's inhumane."

Joe Arpaio, the tough-guy sheriff who created the tent city and long ago started making his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic He said Wednesday that he told all of the inmates: "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to wear full battle gear, but they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!"

Way to go, Sheriff! Maybe if all prisons were like this one there would be a lot less crime and/or repeat offenders. Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for their parole, only to go out and commit another crime so they can get back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.

If you agree, pass this on. If not, just delete it.

Sheriff Joe was just reelected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona

My response, which started a pretty big fire with the rest of his folks in the address book...

Hello Paul, you are a good friend and have been for many years. However, I would lock that MF up in his own jail if I could.

"If you agree, pass this on. If not, just delete it." This really pushed a button. I do not agree, and will not just delete it.

If all the text you forwarded is true, it's more than a little extreme, Paul. Inmates don't deserve to be coddled, but they are still human beings. Where the hell does your Christian beliefs fit into this? I play baseball against the San Quentin team and have gotten to know a number of cons pretty well. Many of them have simply made bad decisions and got caught. ( Yes, I know I've met the very best inmates.) Charles Manson and Scott Peterson both live at San Quentin.

Lighten up.

Bob

[theevan]

If all the inmates were violent and/or predators I'd be fine with it, although the Newt lectures...well, that's inhumane...

[iamjohnne]

It would have to depend on the crime. If they were violent, yeah maybe; if they just made some poor judgement calls, that is a bit much.

Just to clarify my statement. If they broke in someone's home, or robbed them at gunpoint, the punishment is not too extreme. If they got caught buying beer for a nineteen year old, that is alittle much.

[Deleted]

There is a good reason why we have jails. Some (or many, as the case may be) cannot be trusted out in society. They are criminals. Therefore, we must confine them for a period of time (maybe for life) away from the rest of us.
On the other hand, our steely-eyed John Wayne wanabee sheriff seems to be crossing the line from punishment to sadism. Maybe he's enjoying his job just a little too much. The fun may end for Sheriff Arpaio when someone dies in his custody.
As for the remark about the relationship between Democrats and crime, that's too stupid to comment on.

[mnhermit]

I've been waiting for one of the lawyers on the forum to pipe in - but aren't county jails for offenders sentenced to less than a year of incarceration? If that's the case I can't imagine a violent offender getting a year or less of jail time. So most of these prisoners aren't likely to be armed robbers - they're vandals, vagrants, dope smokers, shoplifters - probably no felony convictions.

I don't agree with his methods, on the other hand it's not supposed to be summer camp.

[Cornflake]

Sheriff Joe likes press conferences. He often refers to himself as the toughest cop in America.

A number of prisoners have died from mistreatment in his custody, including the son of some friends of mine. The families have sued and, as far as I can recall, they have invariably won. The taxpayers have spent tens of millions of dollars paying the verdicts. The juries composed of folks like us who heard those cases weren't big fans of the sheriff's ways.

The sheriff frequently gets sued for depriving prisoners of rights guaranteed by law. He virtually always loses those cases as well. Those just cost us the taxpayers a few hundred thousand in attorneys' fees spent on unnecessary fights.

Who was it that said that you can judge a society by how it treats its prisoners?

[Village Idiot]

I've seen this guy on MSNBC, and I agree with Papatom that he's enjoying his job too much. The purpose of the prison system is to remove people from society, not to torture them. Sounds like Andersonville down there.

[sekhmet]

Aren't there basic rules on housing prisoners? Can you just do whatever you like to them - billet them in caves, tents, barns, pigsties? I don't get it - doesn't the state govern these things?

The sheriff is a sadist. What is wrong with a system that allows this deranged bastard power over the helpless?

[Village Idiot]

Well put, Sekhmet.

[Deleted]

Sadistically mistreat people while they're caged, you don't want unwary people to be nearby when the cage is unlocked. No?

[andrewg]

I was going to say the same thing as Sekh; surely there must be federal as well as local standards of care which have to be adhered to?

[TDR]

If people are dying from abuse and the lawsuits stick, its hard to see how county administration lets him stay, or keep doing it. That's irresponsible.

The inmates should have their safety guranteed. And some minimal standard of nutrition and health care while they are in charge of the state.

But where does this come from? "there was a federal court order that required cable TV for jails". Piffle, if there is one rule he oughta go ahead and bend its that one. Let them read books.

Forty cent meals? Damn good job. Lots of folks would like to know how he does that.

No air conditioning? Most places you'd say aw too bad. But 120+ can be life threatening. The answer to that one is humans aren't adapted to live where its that hot, so they shouldn't.

Making them work? You bet. It cost something like $30K to keep somebody locked up. More than it cost to send someone to college. Heck every penal institution in the country should be self supporting. Farms, factories, whatever. BS on sending them to free food and gym time while they learn more about how to succeed at crime. Put em to work.

[Village Idiot]

If I were a prisoner, I would want to work. I'd rather be out in a field than out in the yard.

[Cornflake]

TDR, he's elected. The Board of Supervisors would probably jettison the guy in a heartbeat if they could, if only because of the expensive verdicts the county has to keep paying.

I'm very dubious about the supposed court order that the inmates have cable TV. I've litigated over prison conditions for many years. I've never heard of such a thing. Corrections professionals usually want inmates to have TV because it pacifies them but a court ordering it? Maybe, but I'd like to see the order.

[TDR]

Elected or not, if you screw up bad enough you need to be removed from duty.

So I guess the question would be how bad has he screwed up.

[sekhmet]

I don't think you can feed a person for 40 cents a day.

It's important to remember that this is not a penitentiary the guy is running. This is a prison for short sentences - petty crime. The guys in the Big House are in way better shape.

There must be some means of removing a man who puts people who are in his care in mortal peril. If there isn't there should be. This guy is the sort of vicious little sadist that tortured and killed people in prison in Iraq.

Don, you said that friends of yours lost their son to this system. Surely there is some remedy. Surely he is criminally responsible if he is the one who set up a situation wherein people die?

[Tim Alexander (fmrly. Camalex)]

If the Geneva conventions don't apply for our president, why should we be indignant when other levels of law enforcement stoop so low. I guess there are a lot of enemy combatants in Arizona. Gee, who'd have known it?

[knobtwister]

Wonder if the web cams are still up?

'Nation's toughest sheriff' adds Web cam to jail

July 18, 2000
Web posted at: 3:04 PM EDT (1904 GMT


"PHOENIX (AP) -- Anyone who wants a peek behind the walls of the Maricopa County Jail can do so by way of the Internet starting next week.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the man dubbed the "nation's toughest," is installing two video cameras that will show hundreds of inmates booked each day.

"It'll be educational," Arpaio said. "It'll be a deterrent. Maybe those guys who get busted on Van Buren Street (for soliciting prostitutes) can wave to their wives."

Not everyone is amused.

"Sheriff Joe often seems to forget that a lot of people in his care haven't been convicted of a crime," said Eleanor Eisenberg, executive director of the Arizona Civil Liberties Union. "Putting them on the Internet for all the world to see is an invasion of privacy that is not warranted."

Online viewers will be warned that anything can happen as the cameras follow inmates through parts of the Madison Street Jail.

Arpaio has gained national attention for his methods. He has housed prisoners in sweltering tents, dressed them in pink underwear and dispatched chain gangs in old-style striped uniforms to cut weeds and paint curbs. He has banned coffee, R-rated movies and -- in a move upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court -- nude magazines.

His title as "America's toughest sheriff" came from a tabloid magazine after his 1992 election. But his jails have also been the subject of investigations into alleged brutality.

The jailhouse death of inmate Scott Norberg in a restraint chair in 1996 ended in with Norberg's family settling a wrongful death suit against Maricopa County for $8 million.

"Everybody says we killed Norberg," Arpaio said. "I'm getting tired of all these allegations. Now everybody can see."

[mccoyblues]

I'd be willing to bet that the sheriff is within constitutional rights to do what he is doing. He may be taking advantage of weak or outdated standards but I bet he hasn't broken a single law or gone beyond any state or federal regulation while running his jail.

He's been doing it way too long.

In a related story:
© 2006 The Associated Press

FLORENCE, Colo. — Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph laments in a series of letters to a newspaper that the maximum-security federal prison where he is spending the rest of his life is designed to drive him insane.

"It is a closed-off world designed to isolate inmates from social and environmental stimuli, with the ultimate purpose of causing mental illness and chronic physical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and arthritis," he wrote in one letter to The Gazette of Colorado Springs.

Rudolph wrote that he spends 23 hours a day in his 7-by-12-foot cell, his only exercise confined to an enclosed area he described as a "large empty swimming pool" divided into "dog-kennel style cages."

"Using solitary confinement, Supermax is designed to inflict as much misery and pain as is constitutionally permissible," he wrote in a letter.

[Deleted]

Observations on Eric Rudolph's letters:

Observation # 1 - He's right about supermax prisons. They are designed at least partly for psychological torture.

Observation # 2 - He belongs there.