Joe Arpaio bills himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.” Many prisoners have died on his watch; now he can add a baby to the list.
Arpaio is the sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona, and he has instituted a series of changes in Maricopa jails to make sure that inmates are treated as harshly as legally possible. Food costs have been cut to 30 cents a meal, and inmates are fed only twice a day (and they’re often fed rotting food). Arpaio reinstituted chain gangs, wherein inmates are chained together while they perform hard labor — a practice that has faded into obscurity everywhere in the U.S., except in Arpaio’s prisons. He dyed inmate underwear pink as a way to humiliate prisoners, and eventually introduced pink handcuffs, socks, towels and other items. He held webcasts of pre-trial detainees — people who had been arrested but not yet convicted of a crime — in an effort to “deter” future crime (at the cost of humiliating and violating the privacy of people who hadn’t yet been convicted of any crime; the practice was eventually found unconstitutional).
He’s also hugely anti-immigrant. Using an anti-human-smuggling law as cover, he has instructed his deputy sheriffs and his civilian “posse” (no I’m not making that up) to arrest illegal immigrants. He told the Washington Times, “My message is clear: If you come here and I catch you, you’re going straight to jail. [...] I’m not going to turn these people over to federal authorities so they can have a free ride back to Mexico. I’ll give them a free ride to my jail.”
And he’s dangerous. Families of inmates who have died in Arpaio’s jail have filed lawsuits against the county, totaling more than $43 million in settlement claims. According to Wikipedia:
From 2004 through November 2007, Arpaio was the target of 2,150 lawsuits in U.S. District Court and hundreds more in Maricopa County courts; 50 times as many prison-conditions lawsuits as the New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Houston jail systems combined
Even several high-profile deaths and other atrocities haven’t gotten Arpaio kicked out of his position:
Charles Agster
Charles Agster, a 33-year-old mentally handicapped man, died in the county jail three days after being forced by sheriff’s officers into a restraint chair used for controlling combative arrestees. Agster’s parents had been taking him to a psychiatric hospital because he was exhibiting paranoia, then called police when he refused to leave a convenience store where they had stopped enroute. Officers took Agster to the Madison Street jail, placed a “spit hood” over his face and strapped him to the chair, where he had an apparent seizure and lost consciousness. He was declared brain dead three days later. A medical examiner later concluded that Agster died of complications of methamphetamine intoxication. In a subsequent lawsuit, an attorney for the sheriff’s office described the amount of methamphetamine in Agster’s system as 17 times the known lethal dose. The lawsuit resulted in a $9 million jury verdict against the county, the sheriff’s office, and Correctional Health Services.Scott Norberg
One major controversy includes the 1996 death of inmate Scott Norberg, a former Brigham Young University football wide receiver, who died while in custody of the Sheriff’s office. Norberg was arrested for assaulting a police officer in Mesa, Arizona, after neighbors in a residential area had reported a delirious man walking in their neighborhood. Arpaio’s office repeatedly claimed Norberg was also high on methamphetamine, but a blood toxicology performed post-mortem was inconclusive. Norberg did, however, have methamphetamine in his urine, proving that he had used the drug at some point fairly recently before his death. During his internment, evidence suggests detention officers shocked Norberg several times with a stun-gun. According to an investigation by Amnesty International, Norberg was already handcuffed and face down when officers dragged him from his cell and placed him in a restraint chair with a towel covering his face. After Norberg’s corpse was discovered, detention officers accused Norberg of attacking them as they were trying to restrain him. The cause of his death, according to the Maricopa County medical examiner, was due to “positional asphyxia”. Sheriff Arpaio investigated and subsequently cleared detention officers of any criminal wrongdoing.Norberg’s parents filed a lawsuit against Arpaio and his office. The lawsuit was settled for $8.25 million (USD).
Brian Crenshaw
Brian Crenshaw was a blind inmate allegedly beaten into a coma by guards working under Arpaio. Crenshaw suffered injuries that included a perforated intestine and a broken neck. He later died at a local hospital.Crenshaw’s family filed a lawsuit against Arpaio and his office, which resulted in an award of $2 million dollars. As in the Scott Norberg case, it was alleged that Arpaio’s office destroyed evidence in the case. In the Crenshaw case, the attorney who represented the case before a jury alleged digital video evidence was destroyed.
Richard Post
Richard Post was a paraplegic inmate arrested in 1996 for possession of marijuana and criminal trespass. Post was placed in a restraint chair by guards and his neck was broken in the process. The event, caught on video, shows guards smiling and laughing while Post is being injured. Because of his injuries, Post has lost much of the use of his arms. Post settled his claims against the Sheriff’s office for $800,000.Jeremy Flanders
In 1996, Jeremy Flanders was attacked by inmates at Tent City who used rebar tent stakes, which were not concreted into the ground. Although these stakes had been used as weapons in a previous riot at the facility, the Sheriff’s office chose not to secure them properly. During the trial, the defendant “presented evidence that, among other things, the Sheriff and his deputies had actual knowledge that prisoners used rebar tent stakes and tent poles as weapons and did nothing to prevent it.” Furthermore, “the Sheriff admitted knowing about, and in fact intentionally designing, some conditions at Tent City that created a substantial risk of inmate violence.” After the attack: “another inmate entered the tent and found Flanders unconscious, gasping for air, and spewing blood out of his mouth, nose and ears. Flanders had been bloodied and beaten so badly that the other inmate initially did not recognize Flanders.” Flanders suffered permanent brain damage as a result of the attack. On appeal, Flanders was awarded $635,532, of which Arpaio was personally responsible for thirty-five percent.
He also set up several “tent cities” to deal with jail over-crowding. Of course, this is Arizona, so outdoor temperatures inside those tents can exceed 110 degrees.
And he’s the guy who refused to take female inmates to abortion clinics without a court order.
About 1500 pregnant inmates come through Arpaio’s prison doors every year. Here’s what happened to one of those women, Ambrett Spencer:
Ambrett Spencer sat up in bed. It was 2:40 a.m., and the pain in her stomach was not right. She was nine months pregnant, but this didn’t feel like labor pains. She’d been pregnant before, and given birth to a healthy boy. This was different.
So Spencer climbed out of her bed and called for medical help.
But she wasn’t at home.
Spencer was sleeping in Bunk 69 at Maricopa County’s Estrella Jail in west Phoenix. Months before she got pregnant, Spencer, 30, had been arrested for drunk driving and pleaded guilty. She was now serving her sentence. (When she became pregnant, she was in treatment and not drinking, she says.) Doctor visits had confirmed that she was pregnant with a healthy baby girl.
Spencer and her attorney declined interview requests, but the records in an ongoing lawsuit she’s filed against Sheriff Joe Arpaio tell the story.
As one of Arpaio’s inmates, Spencer had no way of calling a doctor that night, April 21, 2006. The best she could do was call for the detention officer working the graveyard shift.
In the month she’d been in the jail, Spencer had seen plenty of inmates turned away when requesting medical attention, so she was relieved when the guard called the infirmary at a little after 3 a.m. The infirmary nurse asked how bad the pain was.
On a scale of one to 10, Spencer said it was a 10.
The nurse told her to go immediately to the infirmary. So Spencer got ready for a trip to medical.
Then she waited. The sergeant on duty decided that Spencer was not top priority, he said later in a sheriff’s report about the incident.
About an hour after she requested help, Spencer was escorted to the infirmary. The one healthcare professional on the premises, a nurse, took Spencer’s blood pressure. She also detected the baby’s heartbeat, around 4 a.m.
The nurse — who later admitted she had no prenatal training — told Spencer that she’d be going to the hospital, but she also decided that Spencer’s pain was not an emergency.
Another hour later, Spencer passed out. The nurse took her blood pressure again; it was fatally low. The nurse called an ambulance and tried to get an IV into Spencer’s arm. She couldn’t.
When EMT Jarrid Ortiz arrived, Spencer, who is African-American, had lost so much color it was clear to him that it was an emergency. “If you are turning that color, you’re not getting enough blood to your organs and skin,” Ortiz later told a sheriff’s detective.
By the time the ambulance arrived at the Maricopa County Hospital, Spencer had been in severe pain and without a doctor for almost four hours. Doctors delivered Ambria Renee Spencer, a 9-pound baby girl with a quarter-inch of thick hair on her head.
Ambria was dead. Spencer’s pain had been caused by internal bleeding — a malady known as placental abruption. Babies often survive the condition, if their mothers go immediately to a hospital. The treatment is simple: immediate delivery. Otherwise, the baby dies from blood loss.
Inmates in Arpaio’s jails aren’t usually allowed to see their babies after birth. Despite protests from the jail guard, hospital employees brought baby Ambria to Spencer, so she could see her daughter before the funeral.
Spencer described the moment for attorneys in her deposition.
“I kept praying that she would just open her eyes because she looked like she was alive.”
Refusing medical treatment to inmates who need it is just the tip of the iceberg. Inmates are literally living in a poisonous environment — which is particularly dangerous for pregnant women:
Spencer believes delayed medical care caused her baby’s death.
She’s not the only inmate to say so. Four other inmates or their family members have contacted New Times this year, describing miscarriages, stillbirths, or harsh conditions for pregnant women in Arpaio’s jails.
They blame poor medical care or, at times, no medical care. They also say that rotten food, potentially contaminated water, a lack of prenatal vitamins, and careless detention officers contribute to the problems.
Records show the claims may not be groundless. For example, the water well in the facility where pregnant women are jailed has been infested with mice and mice feces since 2005, Maricopa County Environmental Health Services Records show.
Mice carry a parasite — toxoplasma — that can infect water and cause birth defects, according to the Centers for Disease Control. It’s so dangerous that the CDC says pregnant women shouldn’t even touch litter boxes — because cats eat mice and their feces can contain the parasite.
“Most infected infants do not have symptoms at birth but can develop serious symptoms later in life, such as blindness or mental disability,” the CDC writes in its description. “Occasionally infected newborns have serious eye or brain damage at birth.”
In addition to that parasite, Dr. Leslie Barton, a pediatrics professor at the University of Arizona School of Medicine, has found that mice feces and urine also carry a virus that can cause birth defects, including chromosomal defects.
It’s not just the water. Last week a federal judge ruled that Arpaio’s current jail conditions violate the U.S. Constitution, specifically when it comes to healthcare, overcrowding, and access to medication. U.S. District Court Judge Neil Wake issued a list of 15 changes — including diet, medical care, and medication — that Arpaio must make by December.
A month before that ruling, the jails also lost their national health accreditation, which is required by state law.
This is inhuman. It’s also worth noting that Maricopa County’s jails house inmates convicted of crimes with a penalty of less than one year, and pre-trial detainees — people who are awaiting trial but haven’t yet been convicted of any crime. (Which of course isn’t to say that it would be ok to treat murderers or other serious offenders like this). The level of abuse in these facilities is staggering.
I hope Ambrett Spencer wins her lawsuit. And at some point, I hope Arpaio faces criminal charges himself for what he’s done to these inmates.
He still has a job because the prison industrial complex is a huge part of the economy though we all don’t want to admit that many business and communities are dependent on it.
No one wants to do the work that would be required to reduce actual crime. A little thing like decriminalization of marijuana would immediately reduce incarceration. How about drug treatment instead of jail. Job training counseling and education? Investing in programs like the boys and girls clubs to get to at risk youth.
They would rather have Joe justifying their white privilege and fear using the rhetoric tough on crime. He really has just been given a license to have a war on the poor brown bodies under his jurisdiction. He disgusts me on so many levels.
Is there some kind of human rights organization that can get involved with this? I admit I don’t know anything about prison reform or what work is already being done on this front, but this situation sounds so over the top horrible…
I am sickened that he was re-elected. We will continue to fight.
http://www.arpaio.com/
http://joesgottogo.com/
http://www.eastvalleytribune.com/page/reasonable_doubt
Oh my God.
And human rights critics call out the prisons in my home country for making prisoners sleep on mattresses on the floor.
I’m seriously shocked. Call me naive, but this is not the kind of thing we are raised to expect of the US. From what local commentators say, the United States is practically full of wishy-washy liberals, especially in institutions like universities and prisons. (I know that’s not true, but even so, something to this extent still catches me by surprise…)
I hope that Ms Spencer and all those others victimised (or their families) sue the ass off Arpaio. Doesn’t bring the dead back to life or heal wounds, but that man should be brought to justice, and then there should be an explanation as to why it took so long for that to happen. And an official apology with compensation all round.
At somepoint the state will look at how much money this guy is costing them in law suits and that’s when they’ll cut him loose. $20 million just in those first four stories. If you can’t get him fired for the right reason, you might be able to get him fired for financial reasons.
Sick. Absolutely sick. And yet the fact that the man retains his position is the part that should appall every single one of us. Sheriff is an elected position; it’s time to throw this bum into his own jail! Unfortunately, because of his position as a law enforcement officer (he doesn’t deserve the title) he’ll be immediately placed into protective custody and won’t be in with the rest of the inmates he treats with such disdain. Sounds like your typical hard-line, hardass white supremacist, misogynistic thug disguising his bigotry and hate with a uniform.
Yeah, I personally think that he needs to face criminal charges instead of simply civil ones.
He still has a job because my state is full of ignorant old people who think that the illegal aliens (god, I hate that term) are going to TAKE OVER THE WORLD!
You think I’m joking. I’m not.
I voted for Dan Saban this past election. I’m still in shock that Arpaio won on November 4th. He is definitely anti-illegal – to the point of raiding Mesa City Hall (without permission or notification to City Hall officials) in hopes of catching some of the cleaning personnel on illegal immigration charges. I do not know what is wrong with this county – and I live here!
I’m so pissed off I’m shaking. Is there a way to put this anger to good use, like writing letters, supporting organizations fighting this creep, etc.?
A huge problem is that he’s elected by the voters, not appointed by a governmental body. If he were appointed, he’d be cut loose because he’s too damn expensive and given the settlements, it’s likely the party paying for them is self-insured so the cost is being passed on to the residents.
But he’s not appointed, but elected which makes him extraordinarily hard to get rid of as long as enough voters support him and his methods. Sheriff races are notoriously hard to win from the outside, as they are more like coronations for elevating people on the inside than actual elections.
What’s interesting is that I read an interview of McCain on his feelings about federal intervention in local LE agencies and he acted like he was all for it (and most Republicans loathe it believing that local agencies should handle their own misconduct) including filing lawsuits through the Violent Crimes and Law Enforcement Accountability legislation passed during the Clinton administration.
But this is his state and within it is one of the best examples of the need for intervention. So obviously he ahem, wasn’t sincere.
Arpaio is 76 years old. I don’t understand why, since McCain’s age was such a big issue in the presidential election, people don’t consider his age and health to be a liability. Arpaio was always an asshole, but as he gets older, I do believe he’s starting to lose his marbles.
The only way to oust them is to force them to resign, or criminally charge them so they’ll resign as in the case of Orange County Sheriff Mike Carona who was charged federally for corruption. Then the governing body will appoint a replacement to finish out the term as they did in Orange County with Carona, replacing him with retired Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department assistant Sheriff, Sandra Hutchens and in Riverside County, where they appointed a replacement who had been fired but for political reasons by the outgoing sheriff.
Also, when he runs for reelection, is he unopposed? That’s a much easier way to stay in power.
Ah, law enforcement and wrong doing. I spent Monday in court where all the parties insisted they weren’t treated the officer-defendant any differently but of course they did. Which might be why they protested so loudly.
[...] have GOT to do something about our prisons. This Joe Arpaio guy and his tent cities and inhumane conditions keep killing [...]
He’s not running unopposed. Dan Saban ran against him, and Arpaio called together a press conference in which he accused Saban of raping his mother when he was fifteen. Yeah.
Brown bodies?! Really?
Is this a place where the ACLU could step in? What about the implications on habeas corpus?
Is there a way to spin this so it can go before the SCOTUS?
I saw him on TV a while ago. He was portrayed as being unconventional but lovable as a harsh but fair sheriff. Nothing was ever said about the deaths or dangers. If that is how he is being portrayed nothing is going to get done.
I almost burst into tears reading this story. How is it so easy for people to dehumanize “criminals” (including drug addicts, illegal immigrants, people who haven’t yet been convicted…) to the point where things like this can happen? There is real sadism going on under Arpaio’s watch, and a lot of people turning a blind eye.
Also, I’m not too familiar with the American prison system — is it in any way normal to prevent jailed women who’ve just given birth from seeing their babies? With the lack of medical care and nutrition, and the complete disregard for the mother and child, it’s pretty clear that trying to prevent inmates from getting safe abortions is just another form of punishment, nothing “pro-life” about it.
I didn’t see references to race in most of the examples above. Is there some indication that he’s targeting people of color particularly (more than the prison/legal system in general does, I mean?) I saw a HELL a lot of ableist stuff though…
Well, it’s clear that he targets illegal immigrants — and that his definition of “illegal immigrant” begins and ends with “Mexican.” So he’s targeting people of color there.
And, as your comment implies, prisons are heavily skewed brown and black; that does matter in how this plays out. I think part of the reason why this is permissible is because (a) the people who are being mistreated are perceived as “criminals” — even though many of them have been convicted of no crime — and are therefore unsympathetic, and (b) the people who are being mistreated are socially powerless, because of their status as “criminals” and often because of their skin color.
Does anyone think this shit would fly if the people in the prison were white-collar criminals?
Race is hardly the end-all be-all of this situation, and there are a lot of other factors at play, but I think it’s hard to deny that the racial make-up of prisons and the powerlessness and invisibility of undocumented people plays a major role in allowing this to continue.
@Jill
Class is also a factor. Rich people don’t end up in prisons run by the likes of Apraio. If Martha Stewart for instance had, had to serve time in his jail you can guarantee she would not have been sleeping in one of his tents or dining on one of his gourmet green bologna sandwiches.
People who are working/under class are routinely ignored by our society because value is often measured in your ability to consume. Think about rush hour and the many business who daily rush by in their designer suits as the homeless beg for change. If you want to matter in this society you need money.
This is all sickening to me, but I feel like I need to rant on the food situation a bit. We have “cruel and unusual punishment” in our constitution for a reason. Feeding people only two meals a day, made of rotting food or at least food so lacking in nutrients as bologna sandwiches, is horrifyingly cruel. Intentional starvation, malnutrition, and poisoning is what I see when I read that. The way this is being handled though, inmates could die of salmonella poisoning or scurvy and no one would do anything. What The Fuck. It is a sick world where he can be congratulated for saving costs on food on one hand and cost the county millions in settlements because of his practices on the other. How about saving that 43 million and spending a tad more on ensuring safe practices and humane living conditions so your jail doesn’t resemble the Tower of London circa The Middle Ages?
He’s an old school OLD WHITE MALE…that’s why he still has work. This is despicable, to say the least. Most jails of course, don’t house really aggressive offenders, so this sort of treatment is just ridiculous and completely unnecessary. 76 years old, he is? And senile, as likely…..and, I might add LAZY. I love how some of these old-school caucasian cretins LOVE to administer the moniker “Lazy____” whenever they get the chance, yet these people are even MORE guilty of not making a beneficial contribution to society.
Enough of the “good old (white) boy network”! These people are and have always been innefective (as well as legends in their own minds), and they’re not going to change. Maybe I’m being extreme, but since he has reached the level of remorseless homicidal maniac, let him spend the rest of his “Golden years” in his own facility!!! Bastard….sorry for rant, thanks for letting me vent.
What’s really pathetic is that there are people who idolize this piece of shit. My stepmother sent out a chain of e-mails glorifying what this guy does, as if other law enforcement officials should look up to him and model their own practices after Joe’s. If they could have it their way, every county jail in the U.S. would be like this one in Arizona.
Seriously, Marksman. The guy has two books out, and they’ve sold fairly well. He wins elections by large margins. It’s really scary.
Arpaio called together a press conference in which he accused Saban of raping his mother when he was fifteen. Yeah.
I so, so badly want this to be hyperbole. It’s not, is it?
This is going on all over the penal system. You’d think forcing male inmates to have gladiator fights so you can bet on the outcome would be unconstitutional. Shooting inmates in the back. Making them lie on excrement and urine-covered floors. Raping and sexual abuse by guards which is a serious problem down to the youth authority facilities and not taking any action when it’s done by inmates. And so forth.
Then people wonder why people come out of prison violent and prone to reoffending…
I live in Phoenix (and have voted against Arpaio at every opportunity). The Phoenix New Times has done a great job of cataloging the problems with Arpaio.
He passed information that Sabian had been accused by his foster mother of rape when he was a minor shortly before the primary election when they faced each other (Sabian switched to the Democrat party to avoid the Republican primary in facing Arpaio). The allegations were eventually handed to another county for investigation, which found the statute of limitations were up on the case. It was later revealed that woman’s biological children had significant doubts about the story. Sabian claimed he had been sexually abused by her as a foster child. He sued for defamation and lost, but he had a tough time proving damage.
He is known for going after political enemies. He tried to get the IP addresses of everyone who visited the Phoenix New Times Web site, which published his home address online. The allegation was that this was needed because of threats against his life. The request was eventually denied.
The stories about rotting food are true. However, the prisoners can purchase vending machine food at inflated prices.
The incidents about prisoner abuse get remarkably little coverage. The Phoenix New Times is the primary one covering it on a consistent basis, and the Sheriff’s office fights all of their public records requests. The other stations are a bit more sporadic in coverage (the NBC and CBS affiliates did do some good stories recently). But the Sheriff’s Office regularly cuts critical media out of receiving press releases, possibly including information about criminals on the loose. He arrested the local management of the Phoenix New Times and has threatened their reporters with arrest for covering him in public areas or attempting to take pictures of public records while reviewing them.
He gets re-elected because we have a strong tough on crime segment of the population (there’s little objection to Tent City – where the prisoners live in non-air conditioned tents in the hot Arizona summers and possibly form race gangs), his playing to the retirees (see the abortion comments and swears that he is the only one keeping them safe), and his anti-illegal immigration raids.
He now saturates an area, pulling over people for any infraction, and having people prove their citizenship (the allegation is that he only asks that of Hispanics). These are high media spectacles — if they aren’t, his press office makes certain they are covered heavily. He really likes media coverage, and does a lot of publicity stunts to ensure it.
(Sabian switched to the DemocratIC party to avoid the Republican primary in facing Arpaio)
grrr
“He really likes media coverage, and does a lot of publicity stunts to ensure it.”
Yep. He’s a media whore. Nothing more.
Arpaio has never had marbles. I despise him. And I despise the people who keep voting for him. Everything new I learn about him makes me sick.
All of you can hate Arpaio all you want, but until the you liberals in AZ get rid of the perception that you coddle criminals, you will never defeat him.
Angela: why don’t you do some research before you contribute? Do you think it’s okay for a full term baby to suffocate because once upon a time, her mother got a DUI? This is the issue that we’re discussing–the fact that some of the punishments these people are facing are grossly disproportionate to their crimes. Mentally ill people arrested for loitering–beaten to death. I suppose you think that we just have to break a few eggs to make an omelette, right?
It never ceases to amaze me how freedom loving conservatives can’t line up fast enough to give their freedoms away the moment they become the least bit frightened. They are the most cowardly people on the planet. Illegal aliens! Terrorists! the boogyeman! They hide under their chairs while Arpaio’s goons sweep their city streets, harassing citizens, waving guns around. It absolutely makes me sick.
[...] anti-immigrant law enforcement officials around town on street corners and at intersections, including one of the chief of armed despicability himself, America’s self-described “toughest sheriff” Joe [...]
Jenny, I understand what this post is about regarding Sheriff Arpaio’s handling of the jails in Maricopa County and I’ve seen some of his past interviews and even I raise my eyebrows to some of the things he has said and done.
Now, does his tactics bother a lot of people, sure they do. And, it’s not just a few eggs that got broken, a whole case of eggs did. I think another part of the problem (like many local cities and counties have) is the the local media. The sheriff gives them plenty of material to work with. And if you were someone who has or have been a victim of crime and you see how he handles certain criminals, then yes they will keep getting elected.
However, in order to get rid of a guy like Arpaio, the local county government have got to put their collective heads together and implement a better system in order to address the issues of crime and punishment more effectively. The county must be able to give it’s citizens a reason not to be afraid. If they can do that, then Arpaio doesn’t stand a chance of winning his next election bid.
So don’t slam the people for being afraid.
Blah blah blah Angela, blame everyone but the monster himself. His tactics amount to warfare against those who need help the most.
And by the way, a jail, where many of these offenses are carried out, is meant for holding. Prisons are designed to punish through long-term deprivation of freedom.
@ Nicole: yes, once the baby is born there is no contact between mother and infant. The child goes to Social Services or family, and the mother goes back to her cell.
Not only is this unconstitutional, but the people of Maricopa County should be more afraid of their law enforcement than their criminals. Clearly, this man’s whole regime of punishment isn’t working–I’ve just spent some enlightening time with the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reports and it seems like violent crime’s gone up in the last few years.
(I mean, seriously, I thought the fact that our sheriff here in Milwaukee failed to arrest a drunk driver earlier in the year was bad.)
Hum… Well, I know that numbers and data doesn’t mean much to emotional liberal types but numbers do not lie. The Unified Crime Report has stated that the violent, hate, sexual, and petty crime rates have ALL gone dramatically down since Sheriff Joe was elected. That just doesn’t happen because of laws being passed or economic swings. It only happens when there is a general shift in the mentality of the populous. Now I’m the first to admit that a person’s upbringing and environment are large determinants in ones road to a criminal life. However, doctine of the penal system is one of the largest ways in which crime can be controlled. Look at California. The highest crime rates in the country and the most lax court system on the planet. However, in a place like Phoenix, which didn’t have a very high crime rate to begin with, a dramatic albeit controversial change in penal doctine has driven violent crime to near all time lows. I won’t even get into the effect of illegal immigration on crime, but we have to remember that Arizona is a border state. I think that we should all remember that the US comes in not at number 1 (hardly) but at a tepid 29th in crime rates among the worlds countries, no matter what Michael Moore wants you to believe. Remember, just because no person is tried and sentenced doesn’t mean that it’s not a crime! Somalian Genocide, female genitalia mutilation, fuedal system style wedding day rapes abound… And remember, that in some states it is now a crime to knowingly spread the AIDS virus. So, in a country that is well down the list of crime rates, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has one of the lowest crime rates in a major metropolitan area. I’d say that he’s done a pretty impressive job. I’m not from Phoenix but I think I’d vote for the man.
Oh BTW… My BA is in Criminal Justice and I have an MA in Sociology. All this info is not just coming out of left field.
Now, with all that said, inmate deaths are unacceptable. The state, as well as society, has a responsibility to protect those of which it makes a ward. However, hard work, boring and unchanging meals and enduring harsh weather conditions never hurt anyone. Heaven forbid an inmate not like bologna. Boo hoo. I’m not talking about kosher meals or vegetarian requests. That’s simple enough to accomidate, but it should not cost the state anymore than the meals we serve our children in schools. There is an odd movement in this country that seems to protect those who chose to break laws rather than those who haven’t had that choice yet. I just can’t understand it.
Anyway, I’m sure my post will stir a ridiculous amount of hate-filled and threatening reactions so I’d just like to remind everyone before I post this that the laws have power because we give it to them. We have the power to make them and we have the power to erase them. If a large enough segment of our society wants something to be legal or illegal, they can make it so. When those people in Sheriff Joe’s prison camps CHOSE to break the law, they broke their own laws and wronged not only society, but themselves.
Everyone have a happy Thanksgiving if you celebrate it, and lets all thank goodness that we live in a country where Democracy prevails.
[...] Jill’s right, why does Joe Arpaio still have a job? [...]
I was considering Arizona State University for graduate school, but now I think I’ll pass.
I’m not going anywhere near this freak.
Sickening. And yet another example of how self-righteous “pro-lifers” don’t give a shit about real babies.
One point that most fail to consider is that the media, especially the New Times, lie alot. The reason Joe Arpaio keeps getting elected is because these stories, once investigated turn out to be completely false. Arpaio has been investigated by every justice agency you can think of, but none have found any cause to take action.
What everyone seems to get so upset about is that Arpaio follows the law. He is the Sheriff, after all, so I don’t find that so outrageous.
I don’t know the whole story on the baby that died, but I can be certain that the account printed in the New Times is missing most, if not all, the pertinent facts.
New Times is the only one that keeps revealing the corruption.
Last month Arpaio lost jail accredidation after it was found the jail had been lying about the conditions – like, the jail say the conditions are all right, and so jail conditions are all right.
Arpaio has previously admitted in court that he intentionally keeps tent city in an unsafe condition. He has been reprimanded on more than one occasion for the falsification – obviously and amateurishly – of jail documents in relation to inmate deaths.
Where in the law does it say that someone held in jail awaiting trial – not convicted of anything – and often for a minor offence (or even for just looking suspicious) should get the death sentence?
And exactly of what crime was that baby suspected that she deserved to die?
Or any infants lost there because of the mistreatment of women in pregnancy?
And why is it that the ordinary inadequate citizen be arrested for just about anything – to the letter of the law – and Arpaio carry on as he likes?
Arpaio has got re-elected by keep shouting ‘illegal imigrants’ – playing on fears – so that the rest of his activities won’t be looked at too closely – and sets out to discredit anyone telling the truth about his activities.
He’s a number-one nutter, but so what, as long as he locks up some more of those Mexicans.
And for those of you who like facts and figures – look up how crime hasn’t fallen in that area, and other police forces thereabouts do more effective arresting of real crminals and illegals too – but without a camera crew.
And think about what sort of society it is that allows this abuse to continue unchecked.
Joe Arpaio is a total asshoooooo…
“Not a Female” you have the most illiterate post here of all! I don’t know where you get your ideas about what goes on in his country, but it must be FOX news or CNBC because you are quoting the lies you hear from Limbaugh, et al , and think it is the TRUTH! Then you have to end it with the STUPIDEST moniker I have heard in a long time, i.e.,… “lets all thank goodness that we live in a country where Democracy prevails.” If that isn’t a clue about how OUT OF IT your thinking and knowledge are, then people will have to read your entire post to get it. But I don’t know what I am getting so excited about since Republicans usually lie through their teeth, so the ‘democracy’ thing is just more of the same!