This is an e-mail I received about a very interesting man, Sherriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County in Arizona, he's basically reforming the prison system as it's widely known and making it a better, more cost-effective place for the state and a place inmates won't want to return to! The e-mail goes like this: (I've added some info from Wiki at the end as well)
"SHERIFF JOE IS AT IT AGAIN!
Oh, there's MUCH more to know about Sheriff Joe!
Maricopa County was spending approx. $18 million dollars a year on stray animals, like cats and dogs. Sheriff Joe offered to take the department over, and the County Supervisors said okay.
The animal shelters are now all staffed and operated by prisoners. They feed and care for the strays. Every animal in his care is taken out and walked twice daily. He now has prisoners who are experts in animal nutrition and behavior. They give great classes for anyone who'd like to adopt an animal. He has literally taken stray dogs off the street, given them to the care of prisoners, and had them place in dog shows.
The best part? His budget for the entire department is now under $3 million.
Teresa and I adopted a Weimaraner from a Maricopa County shelter two years ago. He was neutered, and current on all shots, in great health, and even had a microchip inserted the day we got him. Cost us $78.
The prisoners get the benefit of about $0.28 an hour for working, but most would work for free, just to be out of their cells for the day. Most of his budget is for utilities, building maintenance, etc. He pays the prisoners out of the fees collected for adopted animals.
have long wondered when the rest of the country would take a look at the way he runs the jail system, and copy some of his ideas. He has a huge farm, donated to the county years ago, where inmates can work, and they grow most of their own fresh vegetables and food, doing all the work and harvesting by hand. He has a pretty good sized hog farm, which provides meat, and fertilizer. It fertilizes the Christmas tree nursery, where prisoners work, and you can buy a living Christmas tree for $6 - $8 for the Holidays, and plant it later. We have six trees in our yard from the Prison.
Yup, he was reelected last year with 83% of the vote.
Now he's in trouble with the ACLU again. He painted all his buses and vehicles with a mural, that has a special hotline phone number painted on it, where you can call and report suspected illegal aliens. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement wasn't doing enough in his eyes, so he had 40 deputies trained specifically for enforcing immigration laws, started up his hotline, and bought 4 new buses just for hauling folks back to the border. He's kind of a "Git-R Dun" kind of Sheriff.
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's 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.
Sheriff Joe was just reelected Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona."
From what I can tell all the information included in this e-mail is true, as well as the following:
"Arpaio successfully campaigned for the office of Maricopa County Sheriff in 1992. Since then, he has successfully won re-election in 1996, 2000, and 2004 with considerable support of the county voters.
During his tenure as Maricopa County Sheriff, Arpaio has instituted or strengthened several of the following crime prevention programs:[4]
- bicycle registration
- block watches
- child identification and fingerprinting
- Operation Identification (for marking valuables)
- Operation Notification (which identifies business owners during times of emergency)
- Project Lifeline (which provides free cellular phones to domestic violence victims)
- S.T.A.R.S. (Sheriffs Teaching Abuse Resistance to Students)
- an annual summer camp for kids near Payson.
One of the most successful programs maintained by Arpaio is the all-volunteer Posse program. Though Maricopa County operated the Posse for 50 years prior to Arpaio's election, Arpaio greatly expanded the program through heavy recruiting. The volunteers perform many duties for the sheriff's office:
- search and rescue
- emergency communications
- prisoner transport
- traffic control
- backup for sworn deputies
- office administrative duties
- Holiday Mall Patrol (which provides motorist assistance and security for shoppers during the holiday shopping season)
- deadbeat parent details targeting men and women with outstanding arrest warrants for failure to pay child support.
Arpaio has also included on the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office website an online deck of cards featuring pictures of deadbeat parents, amounts owed and last known whereabouts. Later, he published mugshots of all inmates booked into the county jail, which are available for viewing on the county website for three days after an inmate's arrest.
He attends some of the Phoenix police community activities personally, going as far as making free autograph show appearances several times a year. In 2001, he oversaw security at the former Bank One Ballpark (now Chase Field) for the World Series that pitted the Arizona Diamondbacks (the eventual champions) against the New York Yankees.[citation needed]
In the fall of 2006, Arpaio could be seen in political advertisements for Proposition 204, which in effect limits animal cruelty in farming.
[edit] Changes to jail operations
Arpaio runs Maricopa County's jails, which house inmates serving jail sentences, as well as pretrial detainees, who are legally innocent until proven guilty.
Arpaio believes that inmates should be treated as harshly as legally possible to emphasize the punishment aspect of their incarceration. Thus, upon his initial election, Arpaio began instituting the controversial changes for which he would later become noted.
Arpaio began to serve inmates surplus food (mainly outdated and oxidized green bologna)[5] and limited meals to twice daily. Meal costs would be reduced to 90 cents per day; as of 2007 Arpaio states that he has managed to reduce costs to 30 cents per day. Certain food items were banned from the county jail, mainly coffee (which also reduced "coffee attacks" on corrections officers), but later salt and pepper were removed from the jail (at a purported taxpayer savings of $20,000/year).
Arpaio banned smoking in the county jail. He also removed pornographic magazines (the ban was later upheld in court) and weightlifting equipment. Entertainment was limited to G-rated movies; the cable TV system (mandated by court order) was severely blocked by Arpaio to limit viewing to those stations Arpaio deems to be "educational", mainly Animal Planet, Disney Channel, The Weather Channel, A&E, CNN, and the local government access channel.
Arpaio also instituted a program for inmates to study while in jail and to try to recover from drug abuse. Hard Knocks High lays claim as the only approved high school program in any American jail.[citation needed] Another jail program, called ALPHA, is aimed solely at getting inmates away from drug abuse.
In October 2005, Arpaio started mandatory two-week English classes for non-English-speaking inmates at his jails. Classes last two hours a day. The curriculum comprises the three branches of government, how a bill becomes law, state government, law enforcement and court services, and jailhouse "situational" terminology. At the end of the two-week course, inmates are required to take a test to see how well they have learned about American government, the words to God Bless America, and the communication of health and safety needs. In response to critics, Arpaio responded, "These inmates happen to be incarcerated in the United States of America and in Maricopa County where I run the jails. We speak English here, not foreign languages."
In February 2007, Arpaio instituted an in-house radio station, which he has called KJOE, in conflict with the FCC licensed KJOE FM radio station in Slayton, Minnesota.[6] Arpaio's radio station broadcasts classical music, opera, Frank Sinatra hits, obscenity-free patriotic music, and educational programming, from the basement of the county jail. The station airs four hours each day, five days a week. In March 2007, the Maricopa County Jail hosted "Inmate Idol"[7], a takeoff on the popular TV show.
[edit] Chain gangs
Shortly after taking office, Arpaio reinstituted chain gangs, the controversial form of inmate labor which had been virtually eliminated in the United States.
Arpaio believes that chain gangs are not a form of punishment, but of rehabilitation. Inmates who are low-risk but with a history of jail incidents can apply to serve as free labor. Inmates work eight-hours a day, six days a week (Sundays off), mainly outside. The inmates wear traditional black-and-white striped uniforms (see below for more details) with a cap to protect against the desert heat. Inmates perform such tasks as creating fire breaks, removing trash, and burying deceased indigent persons in the county cemetery.
Arpaio also expanded the chain gang concept by instituting a female chain gang.[8] Female inmates work seven hours a day (7 AM to 2 PM), six days a week. Arpaio has also instituted the world's first all-juvenile volunteer chain gang; volunteers earn high school credit toward a diploma.[9]
[edit] Pink underwear
One of Arpaio's most visible public relations successes was the introduction of pink underwear, which the Maricopa County Sheriff's website cites as being "world famous."[10] Arpaio has claimed that that traditional white underwear, labeled with Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, was being smuggled out of the jails and sold on the streets, and he thus had the underwear dyed pink, believing that pink is not considered a "macho" color, and would not be stolen.
Arpaio subsequently started to sell customized pink boxers (with the Maricopa County Sheriff's logo and "Go Joe") as a fund-raiser for Sheriff's Posse Association. Despite allegations of misuse of funds received from these sales, Arpaio declined to provide an accounting for the money [11].
Arpaio's success in gaining press coverage with the pink underwear resulted in him extending the use of the color. He introduced pink handcuffs, using the event to promote his book, Sheriff Joe Arpaio, America's Toughest Sheriff. [12]. Later, Arpaio ordered that sheets, socks, towels, and other fabric items be dyed pink.
The outer uniform is not pink, but traditional black-and-white. This was part of another Arpaio-instituted change. One day, allegedly, Arpaio thought he saw an inmate escapee in the then-existing sea-green inmate uniform outside the jail (it turned out to be a hospital worker in scrubs). Later, he noted that the orange uniforms of the chain gangs were similar to uniforms used by county workers (the orange being needed for safety). Believing that inmates should be easily identifiable should they escape, Arpaio re-instituted the traditional black-and-white inmate uniforms, which even with the advent of everything else being pink has not changed.
[edit] Tent City
Arpaio set-up a "Tent City" as an extension of the Maricopa County Jail (
33°25′40″N 112°07′26″W / 33.42778, -112.12389 (Maricopa County Jail)). Although often cited by Arpaio as unique, many prisons and jails throughout the United States have used, and continue to use, tents to house inmates.[13] Arpaio's tent city jail has become notable particularly because of Phoenix's extreme temperatures. Temperatures inside the tents have been reported as high as 150 degrees, which is sufficent to cause death or permanent disability in humans.[14][15]
When Arpaio took office, inmates were routinely being released early due to overcrowding. Arpaio believed that "courts, not head count" should determine when an inmate is released, and that no officer should be deterred from making an arrest for fear that the inmate would be released due to jail overcrowding.
However, a new jail would have cost Maricopa County taxpayers around US$70 million. So instead, Arpaio obtained surplus tents from the military, and established Tent City in a parking lot adjacent to one of the jail facilities. As an announcement to future inmates that they should not expect early release upon overcrowding, but more tents instead, Arpaio added a (pink neon) "Vacancy" sign to the outside of Tent City. The original sign was destroyed in an inmate riot, but was quickly replaced. A second Tent City was opened in 1996 adjacent to another jail facility, and houses female inmates.
According to former Sheriff's Office employees, Arpaio emptied an entire floor of one jail to help fill the tent city when it was opened. [16]
During the summer of 2003, when outside temperatures exceeded 110 °F (43 °C), which is higher than average, Arpaio said to complaining inmates, "It's 120 degrees in Iraq and the soldiers are living in tents and they didn't commit any crimes, so shut your mouths."[17] Inmates were given permission to wear only their pink underwear.
Tent City has been criticized by groups contending these are violations of human and constitutional rights[who?], but has been simultaneously praised by those favoring Arpaio's "get tough on crime" approach[who?].
In response to requests, the Sheriff's office offers group tours of its unique and controversial Tent City. In addition, Arpaio has instituted "S.M.A.R.T." Tents (Shocking Mainstream Adolescents into Resisting Temptation), a voluntary program for middle-school students who are bussed to an area adjacent to Tent City and, for the next 24 hours, are shown the reality of jail life.
[edit] Underwear march
In 2005, inmates were walked from neighboring jails to the newly opened Lower Buckeye Jail, wearing only their boxers and sandals so that they could not hide contraband during transport. This occurrence was reported widely in the media and has been referred to as the underwear march.[18]
"It's a security issue," Arpaio said. "If you let them wear their clothes, they can conceal the fake keys and everything else.[19]
Because of the media spectacle resulting from the underwear march, it would also be regarded as a perp walk."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Arpaio
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