Recidivism

[Victor DaGraca]

I just got this e-mail from my sister and I don't know how much of is accurate. However, having heard of sheriff Arpaio before, and of some of his doings, I would not be surprised if it is all true.

USA JAIL - SOME INTERESTING READING
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.

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

Sheriff Joe was just re-elected as Sheriff in Maricopa County, Arizona...


Now... If we could just get the rest of the country on the same playing field.....

[wayne soper]

That's what i'm talking about. Yeah!!!!! Fn,F,er's

[Gunnar Alquist]

According to snopes.com, much of that that is true. Although, it dates from 2003, so it's not really new.

snopes.com: Sheriff Joe Arpaio (http://www.snopes.com/politics/crime/arpaio.asp)

[Jerry McCarthy]

He is running his jail like all prisons should be run and if his formula was adopted nation wide just maybe we would could stop building so dam many more prisons? Last year we built more prisons than schools, go figure?

[Nick Ostrowski]

Some of the inmates have a better quality of life behind bars than they would if they actually lived a civilian life.

Opponents of this sheriff would say current prison systems are about rehabilitation. Rehabilitation should be about making one's stay in prison just humanely acceptable enough but at the same time so miserable that they will never want to do anything that will land their a$$ in that place again. Make them see that life on the outside and the freedoms it affords are priceless compared to life in an 8x10 cell. Solitary confinement should make up a portion of every prison sentence for violent or repeat offenders.

[imported_John Smith]

Put em in "the box" like in cool hand luke.

Too bad more wardens dont adopt this guys philosophy. Air conditioning isnt a necessity. I have spent time in several countries that are very hot and people dont have air conditioning. It isnt pleasurable, but after a while you do get used to it.

[Jim Robinson]

I'm in the middle on a lot of political things, but the prison thing has been bugging me for a long time. Death Penalty opponents have long claimed (with facts) that it costs more to execute a prisoner than it would to keep him in prison for life. Lots of stats will state that it costs more to incarcerate someone for a year than it would to send them to college for a year. Why? Why should it cost that much to keep someone in jail? Where the hell does all this money go? Jail should be jail. There's no reason it should take $20,000 - $30,000 a year to house someone in jail. I wonder what Sheriff Joe's return rate is. I'm sure if I was motivated enough I could find out, but right now I'm not. I would think that he has fewer prisoners return than other jails, but who knows. I think USA has a higher percentage of people in jail than most other "advanced" countries. That's a whole other topic, but it's a little disturbing.

[imported_John Smith]

Thats a fine looking dog in your photo Jim. German shephard?

[Steve Lowery]

John, mine claims he's Austrian.

[Jim Robinson]

Yeah, she's basically a pure bred German Shepherd. Her mom was pure bred, but Dad wasn't. He was the stereotypical GS dog, however. The funny thing is, her mom was the smallest German Shepherd I'd ever seen. DJ is about 65 pounds, which is on the smaller side for a GS. That's fine with me, since they are so notorious for having hip problems. A few less pounds might mean a lower chance of hip dysplasia (sp?). She's a good friend, and always up for some activity.

[Dan Harris]

Yea thats Sherrif Joe.
It's pretty acurate.
What they failed to mention. Dogs / animals that been hurt by the crooks get the cooled jail house, the good food, and he's running for re-election again this fall..