Sheriff Joe Arpaio, the self-proclaimed “toughest sheriff in America,” has made a name for himself by being tougher on prisoners than on crime. Since 1993, he has overseen law enforcement and county jails in Maricopa County, Arizona, an area of nearly four million people that includes Phoenix. William Finnegan profiles (subscription only) the 77-year-old sheriff in The New Yorker’s July 20 issue.
Arpaio seems to delight in dehumanizing others. After winning his first election in 1993, he built a tent-city jail in an area where temperatures can rise to 135 degrees. He banned cigarettes, hot lunches, coffee, and salt and pepper, rejecting a study he had commissioned when it found harsh jail conditions ineffective at reducing recidivism. He gave inmates just two meals a day, each at 30 cents a head. He instituted black-and-white striped uniforms, but added pink underwear and pink socks. Several times he humiliated prisoners by marching them between facilities in the pink underwear alone. The prisoners nicknamed him “Hitler.”
Deaths and injuries in Arpaio’s jails have already cost Maricopa County taxpayers $43 million in court and settlement expenses. Arpaio’s officers have used stun guns against prisoners who were already immobilized in restraint chairs. As Finnegan writes, “The Phoenix New Times found that, between 2004 and 2008, the county jails of New York, Chicago, Los Angles, and Houston, which together house more than six times as many inmates as Maricopa, were sued a total of forty-three times. During the same period, Arpaio’s department was sued over jail conditions almost twenty-two hundred times in federal district court.”
Inmates in Maricopa County’s jails have shaken off the threat of retaliation and engaged in civil disobedience. In one of the largest US prison hunger strikes this past Cinco de Mayo, 500 inmates refused the morning meal and 900 refused the evening meal. Activists outside the jails have organized candlelight vigils, written letters, demonstrated at county meetings, and picketed Arpaio’s offices. On February 28, the National Day Laborers Organizing Network and El Puente Arizona organized a “March to Stop the Hate” focusing on Arpaio’s treatment of undocumented immigrants. Some 3,000 people rallied in downtown Phoenix.
Zack de la Rocha, of Rage Against the Machine, spoke at that march:
In the latest Arpaio investigation, the US Department of Justice is reviewing his discriminatory profiling in the arrest and treatment of possibly undocumented people. Perhaps we might one day thwart this mockery of a ‘public safety’ official, who takes pride in the detestable quality of his jail food and in situating his open-air tent-city jail beside a dump, who diverts limited county dollars away from investigating violent crime or even responding promptly to emergency calls, to instead raid workplaces in search of undocumented yet taxpaying immigrants.
Who the real “criminal” is, one hardly has to wonder.
This is ridiculous. The man is running a prison, not a Holiday Inn. I do not believe that inmates should sit around watching cable on my tax dollar. I am a government employee, and they only give us stuff that was from the lowest bidder, and I sure don’t get to watch Oprah. How many of the 2,200 federal cases filed were won, or for that matter how many were totally thrown out. Out of the 43 in other states most of them were justified. The racial profiling cases are crap as well. If i pull you over, and ask you for a license and you don’t have one then you get arrested. It’s the law, not rocket science, or racism. If you cannot come up with legal documents then you get deported, and that is because you are an illegal alien. If you don’t like America and our rules I don’t know what to tell you, but I can guarantee that your ancestors followed proper procedures when they came here if you are a legal citizen. Is it right for so many to totally revolt against the laws of this country and get away scott free with it? If I were to break into your house would I be a burglar, or a an undocumented tennant that you must provide for? You really need to get your head out of the clouds, before we all wind up in the gutter.
If you broke into my house, you would be dead. If you mowed my lawn, you would not. What a ridiculous comparison. He is not running a prison. He is running a jail where the inmates are either serving short stints for relatively minor offenses (serious offenses go to prison which Joe has nothing to do with) or they are presumed innocent awaiting trial. You are as idiotic as your name!
You are about retarded!! I am a tax payer as well and have also been to jail, as well as to prison. It does not matter if these inmates are in either place, what is the harm with them watching cable. Did you complain when you were young, sitting on your couch watching cable on your parents’ dime? Most likely not. For the amount of money that I have paid in taxes throughout my life and the amount of money in which most of these inmates probably paid before being arrested, I am sure they have paid their dues. So open up your eyes and see the whole picture.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you were Joe Arpaio, or one of his Hillbilly relatives with the name you are using to hide your identity.
Does anybody think there’s a difference between living off your parents’ dime and the taxpayers’ dime? I mean I CHOOSE to buy my daughter an ice cream sandwich. I don’t choose to have my money used to buy goodies for people like Paul Bernardo and Russell Williams.
Comparing a kid with an inmate is ridiculous. Why do we have to pay for them to commit crimes?
20 cents a day for meals is great. They should pay for their crimes and shaming them doesn’t hurt either. If you commit a crime you loose your rights buddy.
There has been quite a lot of research on what helps offenders change and reduce the risk of offending again. Shaming is not something that is effective. So in terms of tax dollars it is counter productive to shame offenders.
When you are found guilty of committing a crime you loose some rights, but not all of them. For example, driving offences can result in your right to drive a car being temporally being taken away. What rights are taken away depends on the crime and what sentence an offender gets.
There is a question as to what should happen to people found guilty of crimes and what is the purpose of this. Keeping citizens safe, reform so that offenders are at less risk of re-offending, finding out the causes so that social policy can be changed to reduce other people committing similar crimes are what immediately come to mind.
I am not sure what you mean by paying for their crimes, but I am sure that being humiliated or having petty restrictions put in place does not make the public safer, is likely to reform anyone, or finds out what can be done to prevent anyone else committing crimes
Ok, your post is outdated, but Arpaio isn’t “dehumanizing” others.
Here’s dehumanizing, and you bet your sweet ass I’d be doing just that.
If I were him, I’d be blowing their fucking brains out behind the jail so I wouldn’t have to feed them.
THAT’s dehumanizing illegals; I’m proud of that.
Illegal immigrants are breaking the law by entering our country illegally; by shooting them like the vermin they are, it sends a message: Stay the fuck out of our country.
At Mexico’s southern border they DO shoot illegals.
Our military forces are overseas defending Israel
instead of defending us from the invasion here at home.
If we keep voting for the Plutocratic Globalist Party
(Republicans and Democrats) we will get more of this.
Its time for the TEA Party movement to become Nationalist
and mainstream. Polls already indicate this may become
something big, let’s not allow it to get hijacked by
Neocons.
IF ALL SHERIFFS (INCLUDING MY BOSS) CONDUCTED BUSINESS LIKE JOE, I GUARUNTEE THAT OUR COUNTRY WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE! CITIZENS WOULD BE SAFER AND CRIMINALS WOULD SWITCH CAREERS…..FAST!
Guararauarentee rawwwr. If PHX could have that $43 mil back and spend that money on police, not that dumbass sheriff’s legal bill, i guarantee the city would be much safer
It costs the USA appx $30,600 per inmate per year to have prisoners in their jails. This houses 2000 inmates so over the 6 years that this would have been over that’s $367,200,000 that would have been spent on just keeping these inmates in a normal jail… I say good on him… he saved the tax payer a shit load of money with his budget for the entire opperation being $3,000,000 per year thats $18mil over 6 years + the 43mil still a saving of over 300mil in 6 years 🙂
Stop suing.
I agree to this statement. There was an oath that all Law Enforcement took when they accepted their position. Jails and Prisons are not to be a vacation spot for criminals. I have a lot of respect and admiration for Sheriff Joe Arpaio. It takes a special person to take on a job this tough and stand against all the ridicule and still make such a difference. Sheriff Joe Arpaio gets my vote and I don’t even live in Arizona but I am considering relocating. I like supporting someone who gives a shit about America.
All americans, apart from native americans are imigrants!!!
They arrived for example at ellis island miserable and bug infested.
Imigration is what makes the US! It is all about who controls the door! WASPS!
@ deputy bob: What line of business were you in before you changed jobs!? And is that business easier to run, now you wear a badge?
What about my family who immigrated here from Europe before there WAS a United States. How many centuries does my family have to live here before I’m considered a native. Is 200+ not enough? Does it have to be 300?
Just because you have a tan and speak Spanish DOES NOT mean you are a Native American. Last I checked Spain was as much a part of Europe as my native homes of Germany and Scotland.
The entered legally ,Illegals break the law.
It is truly a sad time in the United States when there are thoughts and comments like the ones you people are posting. Pride in your country should never mean hatred or murderous retaliation against human beings of any race. I hope one day you see the error of your thinking. God Bless America and the beautiful melting pot from which it came.
Killing illegals IS over the top – but your reference to race is unfounded.
error of thinking…ERROR OF THINKING!!!! If people obeyed the law ,we wouldn’t have this problem. And also, I might add that millions of our tax dollars are going to these lowlives.
-Think again, why don’t you
For the comments of Jim Bob, Steve Harkonnen and DEPUTY DOG, you all are hateful people. You three should NOT be considered as “human” beings. Wait until this happens to one of your family members, whether they get stopped for a DWI, or even warrants; this can happen to anyone who will step foot in that insufferable prison. And what will you do then…nothing. Deputy DOG, maybe you should start sucking up to your boss, this way if you get stopped for DWI (which in your case most members do) he’ll won’t send you there.
congrats to “you three”, and to you, Cam V, why don’t you play the race card too?
-stupid lefties
I don’t break the law, I raise my children the same way. I choose friends who live with the same standards as I do. I don’t worry about going to jail. Why do you?
Immigration Clearinghouse is an excellent website. It has made me reexamine my priorities
Hahaha some people have some ridiculous websites… Im glad to get a good laugh.
I do agree
Prisons are places of punishment.
Prisoners should not live better than our poor.
Prisons should be so bad that a prospective criminal would rather commit suicide than go to jail.
I have no proof that this policy would work.
The research I have read shows that countries with big differences between the rich and poor have larger amounts of crime than more equal countries. More equal countries also have more lenient judicial systems, with less prisoners and more reform focused systems.
So if you want to reduce crime you may need to campaign to limit the income of the rich and increase the income of the poor.
one other thing.
Has he done anything to his prisoners that his prisoners did to their victims. If not he’s not mean enough.
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Arpaio is his name? what are the odds his ancestors came here legally? how many of his associates are in the mafia? same for tht racist pig Tancredo.
These italian americans remind me of the Ukranians in WWII: in an effort to prove they were worthy of the Third Reich , Ukranian guards were among the most inhumane in their treatment of the jews.
Is there anybody else who thinks comparing Joe Arpaio to Hitler’s guards is trivializing the Holocaust (and by the way, I’m not Jewish, and I believe that sometimes I think the accusation “trivializing the Holocaust” is thrown around too easily)?
Sorry, I meant to say “I believe that sometimes the accusation…”
i WILL SAY THAT DEPUTY IS CORRECT,YOU MUST HE DID NOT INVITE THEM TO HIS HOTEL THEY ALL CAME OF THEIR FREE WILL,AND SHOULD BE PUNISHED AS THEY DID TO THEIR VICTIMS.WE COULD USE A MAN LIKE HIM IN FLORIDA,AND I MUST LETS INCLUDE ALL OF THE STATEN WE NEED MEN LIKE HIM.THE MAN HAS NOT GOT A RUBBER SPINE LIKE OUR POLOTIES.
I couldn’t suspect more gibberish in this sentence.
I just read the book Hitler’s willing Executioners on what mentality the Germans cultivated to willingly execute millions of Jews.
The main technique of the Germans was to dehumanize the Jews, like they were subhuman, cattle. Sheriff Arpaio does the same.
Do you think that he is treating all the prisoners justly? True criminals of course deserve no mercy, but what is really the majority of prison population? Right! Illegal immigrants and drug related offenders. 90% of prisoners have committed nor crime against others. They merely violated unjust immoral laws.
Sheriff Arpaio dehumanizes those who are largely the victims of our wrong laws lie a true fascist does, preparing them for slaughter, like the Nazis did. that is a true criminal mentality and merits that he gets locked up in his own jail.
I guess it is no surprise that our country nowadays produces largely corrupt cops like him. We now live in a fascist state and many Americans are willing executioners of their innocent fellow countrymen and of foreigners coming here.
And who do you think will be next on the list of Arpaio and the likes when they exhausted their current victims? You!
Is it somehow impossible to get an independent report on his prisoners’ rates of repeated offenses? Do his practices prevent more crime and violence, or cause it by releasing seething criminals on the public?
PH says:
August 18, 2010 at 5:40 am
All americans, apart from native americans are imigrants!!!
They arrived for example at ellis island miserable and bug infested.
Imigration is what makes the US! It is all about who controls the door! WASPS!
@ “deputy god”: What line of business were you in before you changed jobs!? And is that business easier to run, now you wear a badge? These people give the police force a bad name, give america a bad name, give humanity a bad name!!!
ok well im only 17 and the conditions of this prison to me are perfectly fine. my dad is a retired marine and i took into that and im patriotic. im not racist far from it. immigration is a problem that has been forced appon us its not something we asked for but we managed to get through to build a wall 700 miles long thats the distance from washington DC to chicago yeah we can build that wall but it will take congress 5 years to figure wat color to paint it. we can build a wall 700 miles long but we couldnt build the levies in new orleans good job.. on a flip side joe is doing everything right prison was MADE to have people not HATE it but to learn and get them back on track. i love to give my tax money to people having full meals for doing bad stuff uhhh not its BS. THEN THE OUR TAX DOLLERS NOW GO TO THIS BEAUTIFUL PRISON CHECK THIS LINK OUT http://www.snopes.com/photos/architecture/prison.asp
ITS AMAZING PEOPLE ARE GETTING AWARDED FOR BAD BEHAVIOR.
california might be letting go of 40,000 inmates due to over crowding and congress has “no soulution” well ill give u my idea… all these supermax prisons well there wouldnt be a need for them if u have life in prison or a life sentence with no chance of parol then u
1) get screened for dieases if u are clean u got to step two if not u go to the showers imported from Germany
2) if u are clean we have a team of lawers (When broken down into fluids, tissues and germ fighting our bodies are worth more than $45 million) with that being said u have a chance to give back to the community and donate all your organs
3) now that thats all done u have done a few things make jail space scare the hell out of criminals and have got the waiting list on organs and body parts up to date and taken care of
of course this might not happen and there are more things u would have to look at but for a rough draft i think im on to something????
PRISON IS NOT SUPPOSE TO BE FUN!!!!!!!! ONCE U GET OUT UR NOT SUPOSE TO THING MAN I CANT WAIT TO BE BACK U SHOULD THINK HOLY CRAP THATS NOT WAT I WANT MY LIFE TO BE LIKE. THANK U ALL HAVE A NICE DAY
PREACH! Not.
I hate Arpaio because he would arrest me or suspect me of being a criminal because of the way I look or sound.
I’m from SOUTH-AFRICA….Thats all I have to say
Commit crime against another citizen, goto horrific confinement to serve your debt to society.
Welcome to reality. Most of you need to visit more often.
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