An Old But Interesting Story

TO THOSE OF YOU NOT FAMILIAR WITH JOE ARPAIO, HE IS THE MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF (ARIZONA) AND HE KEEPS GETTING ELECTED OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

These are some of the reasons why:

Sheriff Joe Arpaio created the 'tent city jail' to save Arizona from spending tens of millions of dollars on another expensive prison complex.

He has jail meals down to 20 cents a serving and charges the inmates for them.

He banned smoking and pornographic magazines in the jails, and took away their weightlifting equipment and cut off all but 'G' movies. He says:

'They're in jail to pay a debt to society not to build muscles so they can assault innocent people when they leave.'

He started chain gangs to use the inmates to do free work on county and city projects and save taxpayer's money.

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 but only allows the Disney channel and the weather channel.

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

He cut
off coffee because it has zero nutritional value and is therefore a waste of taxpayer money. When the inmates complained, he told them, 'This isn't the Ritz/Carlton. If you don't like it, don't come back.'

He also bought the Newt Gingrich lecture series on US history 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 that actually tells the truth for a change would be welcome and that it might even explain why 95% of the inmates were in his jails in the first place.

With temperatures being even hotter than usual in Phoenix (116 degrees just set a new record for June 2nd 2007), the Associated Press reported: 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 the Wednesday, hundreds of men wearing pink boxer shorts were overheard chatting in the tents, where temperatures reached 128 degrees.

'This is hell. It feels like we live in a furnace,' said Ernesto Gonzales, an inmate for 2 years with 10 more to go. 'It's inhumane.'

Joe Arpaio, who makes his prisoners wear pink, and eat bologna sandwiches, is not one bit sympathetic. 'Criminals should be punished for their crimes - not live in luxury until it's time for parole, only to go out and commit more crimes so they can come back in to live on taxpayers money and enjoy things many taxpayers can't afford to have for themselves.'

The same day he told all the inmates who were complaining of the heat in the tents: 'It's between 120 to 130 degrees in Iraq and our soldiers are living in tents too, and they have to

walk all day in the sun, wearing full battle gear and get shot at, and they have not committed any crimes, so shut your damned mouths!'

Way to go, Sheriff! If all prisons were like yours there would be a lot less crime and we would not be in the current position of running out of prison spaces.

I have read about this nutter before.

I am not into torture of this kind.

I would make all jails like this. There isn't anything in his methods that sound like torture to me. He is a duly elected city official not a bloodthirsty dictator.

Dragging young girls off the street, beating them to a pulp, raping them then cutting them up for pleasure is much nearer to my definition of torture.
Unpleasant prisons are very common in other countries, it's only this pathetic island that makes prison so nice for the murderers, rapists and child torturers that it is no longer a deterrent.
Law abiding citizens in this country don't want to go to prison no matter how nice it may be there, but the scum mentioned above are finding better conditions inside than they have at home.
VM

I'd love to know how he would deal with the case of a ten year old boy who is alleged to have raped two four year old boys. The police still haven't brought any charges and the boy plays in the area as if nothing has happened. Something wrong somewhere.

Posted by Voltman

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I would make all jails like this. There isn't anything in his methods that sound like torture to me. He is a duly elected city official not a bloodthirsty dictator.

Dragging young girls off the street, beating them to a pulp, raping them then cutting them up for pleasure is much nearer to my definition of torture.
Unpleasant prisons are very common in other countries, it's only this pathetic island that makes prison so nice for the murderers, rapists and child torturers that it is no longer a deterrent.
Law abiding citizens in this country don't want to go to prison no matter how nice it may be there, but the scum mentioned above are finding better conditions inside than they have at home.
VM

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I agree punishment should mean punishment, it should be a strong deterrent This rubbish about going easy on the first offence. People know this, if the guilty ones thought that they would receive a severe sentence for a first offence, maybe there wouldn't be so many first offences.

Why do people always throw this idiot up a good example of a crime deterrent?. I would ask how many of these criminals offend again but only in another county or state. All he is doing is pushing crime down the road not preventing it.

This would never be allowed to happen here, this is England not the Deep South where they lock you up and throw away the key for stealing a loaf of bread. We advanced past that stage a hundred years ago.

Phil

There are so many reasons for indulging in criminal activities. Punishing (or not) doesn't alter the reason for the intent. Severe punishment is no deterrent to the man with low intelligence, no job, no family and no motivation to be any different. Some will always need society to offer a crutch till their dying day.

We know all cases are different. But I would put myself in the position of a Victim of serious or Violent crime. If a close member of our family was a victim of a very serious attack and was severley injured or worse. I strongly suggest we would be very against the soft option punishment if the attacker was caught. Most men would anyway. SB

SB

I don't agree with soft options, but I do think that punishment should be proportionate to the crime committed. How often do we see some old granny sent to prison for not paying her rates whilst someone who fiddles millions gets away with a slap on the wrist.

How can a similar crime earn a millionaire or a pop star a few weeks community service, yet someone else 12 months inside?

Phil

You are dead right Phil. How can a small fine be a punishment to someone who is minted.
If punishment was means tested, a fine would me more painful to someone who didn't have a lot, provided the crime wasn't violent. Likewise someone with a pile of money, especially repeat offenders should do time and pay a fine to pay for it.
What do we do instead let people off easy and make Pice redundant. I would like to see a few politicians attacked or robbed. Then you would see a change.

I think we would all like to see politicians attacked and robbed......not for any particular reason.

Can we suggest a few names?

Phil

Posted by phil

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Can we suggest a few names?

Phil

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All of them