Sheriff Joe Arpaio

[driver8M3]

from an online newsletter i get...

Maricopa County is the fourth most populated county in the nation (3,768,123 U.S. citizens), with Phoenix as its county seat. In 1992, the good citizens of Maricopa County saw fit to elect an Army veteran and career federal drug-enforcement agent as their sheriff, on the promise that he would treat those convicted of crimes like criminals, rather than a social-welfare constituency. Since then, Sheriff Joe Arpaio has been re-elected every time he faced the voters, because he and his 3,000 employees are keeping that promise.

Here is a sample of justice served at the Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office (MCSO)—a good model for the rest of the nation.

Criminals in Maricopa County Jail can no longer smoke or drink coffee. “This isn’t the Ritz-Carlton,” Sheriff Joe informed his indignant inmates. “If you don’t like it, don’t come back.” The Sheriff also discontinued inmate subscriptions for pornography. He revised the jail menu offerings, reducing the cost of meals to 40 cents per serving—and requires that the inmates pay for them. When they complained that he feeds his police dogs better, Sheriff Arpaio responded with characteristic compassion: “The dogs never committed a crime and they are working for a living.”

The jailhouse weight rooms are gone, too, but there’s plenty of exercise to be had on one of Sheriff Joe’s chain gangs. These include chain gangs for women, so Arpaio can’t be called a chauvinist or sued for discrimination. “Crime knows no gender,” he says, “and neither should punishment.” MCSO chain gangs clean streets, remove graffiti and bury the indigent.

He also started juvenile chain gangs for youthful gang bangers and launched rehab programs like “Hard Knocks High,” the only accredited high school run by a Sheriff in an American jail, and “ALPHA,” an anti-substance-abuse program that has greatly reduced recidivism—the rate of reconvictions.

The Sheriff disconnected the MCSO jail’s cable TVs until criminal lawyers pointed out that he might be in violation of a federal-court order. So he hooked the cable up again, but piped in only the Disney and Weather channels. Asked by a reporter why he chose the Weather Channel, he replied, “So they will know how hot it’s gonna be while they are working on my chain gangs.”

Sheriff Arpaio also used canteen funds to purchase former Republican Speaker Newt Gingrich’s history lecture series on DVD, which he shows in the jail. Asked by a reporter if he provided equal time to Democrats, Sheriff Arpaio said, “Some might say these guys already got enough of those ideas.”

Additionally, on Friday nights, inmates are treated to classic “G”-rated movies, and recently, the Sheriff launched KJOE radio, an in-house broadcast station, which plays classical and patriotic music, as well as educational programs.

Sheriff Joe has even posted a “Hall of Shame” Web page dedicated to deadbeat parents, which lists photos and descriptions of parents who owe back child support, etc.

But Arpaio is probably best known by convicts, and most loathed by them, for establishing a “tent-city jail.” When he first took office, non-violent offenders were routinely released in order to alleviate prison overcrowding, but the new Sheriff put a stop to that, which swelled the ranks of inmates. On behalf of taxpayers, Arpaio opened a tent-city jail in order to avoid building an expensive jail annex.

The tent city, surrounded by razor wire, houses thousands of inmates, most of whom get a bit uncomfortable in the 115-degree summer heat. Arpaio gave the inmates permission to dress down to their boxer shorts—shorts which, like socks and towels, are dyed pink so as not to be stolen. Of course, some of the longer-term inmates complained, but Sheriff Arpaio responded, “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 mouths!”

In 2005, responding to limited federal enforcement resources to secure our borders, Arizona passed a law making it a felony (punishable by up to two years in prison) to smuggle anyone across the border. In addition, the Maricopa County Attorney issued a legal opinion that anyone being smuggled can be charged under the same law as a co-conspirator. (At last count, 14 other states are revising state legislation and stepping up their prosecution of illegal aliens.)

Consequently, Sheriff Arpaio issued instructions to his deputies and civilian posse to round up illegal aliens. “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. I’m going to put them on chain gangs, in tents and feed them bologna sandwiches.”

The Sheriff also gives his inmates, who do not speak English, a two-week basic language course built around American history. He explains, “These inmates happen to be incarcerated in the United States of America. In Maricopa County where I run the jails, we speak English.” At the end of the course, they are required to sing “God Bless America” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

Lately, Sheriff Arpaio’s detractors have been turning up the heat on him.

Last week, Arpaio set up a hotline that allows citizens to report suspected illegal aliens to the sheriff’s office. Predictably, Latino leaders voiced their displeasure: “What right does he have,” inquired Phoenix attorney Antonio Bustamante, “to investigate people based on the color of their skin, or their accent or the way they look?” Added Mary Rose Wilcox, a Maricopa County supervisor, “We feel the chances of being racially profiled just went up dramatically.”

Of course, Arpaio is opening investigations only on the basis of a suspected felony violation, not race or ethnicity. “There’s nothing unconstitutional about putting up a hotline,” Arpaio said, pointing out that U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have similar hotlines.

There are other legal challenges to the Sheriff’s “unorthodox” methods for dealing with criminals—challenges that emanate from the Left’s preference to view criminals as victims. Not one to shy away from a fight, Arpaio has said he will go “all the way to the Supreme Court” to fight those challenges. “I’m going to keep locking them up,” he says.

“Justice,” in the words of James Madison, “is the end of government. It is the end of civil society.” Thank God that there are still men among us like Joe Arpaio—those still willing to dispense justice and defend civil society.

(Sheriff Arpaio and his wife of 48 years, Ava, have two children and four grandchildren—all residents of Phoenix. Earlier this year, he accepted an appointment as honorary state chairman of Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign. Through it all, Sheriff Arpaio has retained his sense of humor. In May, after Hollywonk Paris Hilton’s conviction, he contacted Los Angeles authorities and asked if they would like to transfer her to Maricopa County jail to serve out her sentence. They “respectfully declined,” he notes.)

[Gameplayer]

My kind of Sheriff.

[JFlowers]

You have to respect Sheriff Joe for a number of things, one of which is the fact that he has basically said "This is the way it is" and stuck by it, keeping it all above board. But you also have to respect the politicians of Maricopa County in that they have backed him and the people as well.

I know I don't want to be jailed in Maricopa!

[tightloop]

A good guy....doing what needs to be done...

[DougBarnes101]

I wish he would come to my county and show them how to do these things to cut some costs around here!

Oh wait I forgot they know how they just don't have the backbone!

[GentlemanJim]

I think this guy has to be the VERY BEST of LE..absolute top dog in my book!!!!!!!!

I wish our country could have true leadership in Washington like this man has done!!!

Most of our leaders are spineless useless political wimps.

This man has a real grasp on reality.

The forum would not allow the verbage I would use to realy express my feelings about some of our leaders.

And words cant express my respect for men like this !

Jim

[SiG Lady]

We need to be reminded of this bold, brave and sensible guy from time to time. If only MORE agencies had the (censored) to do what he's doing. Jail is not supposed to be fun, for cryin' out loud, or a free lunch or a vacation.

I've added Jail Librarian to my list of volunteer activities for the local County Sheriff's Office, and get to see the local Nick from the inside out whenever I'm there. There are some really bad-ass people in there and some modestly bad-ass people in there and they have access to tons of good paperback books (my job to sort, screen and distribute), and have access to a Law Library that some lawyers would kill for... and The Jail is legally required to provide it. My supervisor grits his teeth about the Law Library because, he sez, "...That's what they use to SUE us!!" So, our local Nick is not exactly Maricopa County, but is still a place you don't want to be.

Wandering around in The Jail as I do (and have done for journalistic reasons in the past) (and just did this morning) is a good reminder of how NOT to live, though. It's a reality check. It's a grim reminder of why we have laws 'n rules. And a dumb reminder about how little respect some losers have for our laws 'n rules. And a freaky reminder of how dangerous some people really can be... or how pathetic. And I don't think they're going away anytime soon.

[Viggen]

Locally, Sheriff Joe's support base are the elderly retired folks in a place called Sun City. He comes up with simple cosmetic stuff that sells, like the G-rated movies and patriotic music. He makes for good press, is not real familiar with the law(any law), and the county regularly pays out millions on wrongful death cases, abuse cases, basic stuff like that.

But in this day and age it seems the main thing is being able to play the media well. He is an effective politician in his choosen market.

[maineshootah]

My kind of Sheriff.

+1

[ima45dv8]

I remember when Sheriff Joe ordered the weightrooms emptied since the inmates were turning into what he (among others) called "Super Criminals". So-called experts cried and wailed and told him the weights were a control measure. Supposedly they could threaten to remove access to the weight machines as a bargaining chip with the inmate population. When Joe asked if they had ever actually followed through and taken them away before, the [expected] response was No.

Shortly after that he pulled out all the heavy recreational equipment, and it started a bit of a trend across the country. When the then-head of the Georgia penal system announced his intention to do the same thing here, he shot down his critics by pointing to Sheriff Joe's success in the matter. The equipment was rounded up and distributed to needy school systems throughout the state.

[uscbigdawg]

So my first trip to Phoenix, I go down to shoot with Matt Burkett at I think the '98 AZ State/Sectionals. While there, they were having some big convention, like a mini-SHOT Show. Matt asked if I wanted to come in early for that as he's working a vendor's booth and I could cruise around the show. No big deal, I'm always down and it's gotta be better than what I had been used to in CA.

We're driving from Scottsdale and into downtown Phoenix. Somewhere around 3rd Street or Central and we're coming up on a line of guys in black and white striped suits, chained together, cleaning the streets. I turn to Matt and say, "are they filming a movie or something down here?". On cue he points and there's the largest woman I have ever seen with a shotgun and Maricopa county deputy uniform on. Yeah...she's watching the chain gang clean the street. Matt's response was, "Welcome to Maricopa County. This is Sheriff Joe Arpaio's house and why should good, honest folks clean the street." I was hooked and AZ was the place for me.

Tried living their a couple of times and career decisions necessitated moves to other locations and even when I get out of the Army, I'll be going back to CA, but Arizona is on the 5-7 year plan to go back to Scottsdale, Maricopa and Sheriff Joe. After all, someone has to be willing to stand up and say if you're doing wrong, you're wrong and there are consequences for your actions.

Rich

[SiG Lady]

They removed the weight lifting apparatus at our county Jail some time ago because the inmates essentially mistreated it and ended up ruining it. There was therefore no agency incentive to replace it.

[Jaxshooter]

Would he like to move to Florida?

To bad the sniveling liberals also live in this country or we could do that everywhere. I have always felt that anyone on public assistance that is not diabled (really disabled)should be required to get up everyday and do something like pickup trash, clean up parks etc. inorder to receive the money. If they had to get off thier a@@es they would look for a job that paid more than welfare and foodstamps.

[Carlos]

Sometimes the answers are rather simple.

I measure success by lowered rates of recidivism. Proven techniques?

-Incarcerate an offender at least 100 miles from home. His fellow gange members are not there, his baby's momma won't travel that far & neither will his family. Suddenly - jail becomes, well, like punishment or something.

-"Drug court" over "treatment beds". A specialized Judge understands drug cases as thats all he/she does - and the use both the carrot AND the stick along with constant testing. As for "treatment" - it rarely works & the "treat" in "treatment" is not what a druggy needs.

Sheriff Arpaio's techniques are also an excellent start. Why have they not spread nationwide consistently?

For those who would pity the inmates, where is your pity for the victims of the crimes the inmates committed?

[LadyinBlue]

If they had to get off thier a@@es they would look for a job that paid more than welfare and foodstamps.

I read somewhere that a person on welfare, medicaid,WIC, commodities and every government sponsored hand-out available, when added together is equivalent to a $40,000 per year job. That's a pretty good income!

[gm iprod]

I like Sherriff Joe

We did some calculations, if we paid Maricopa County to house our criminals and paid him a 100% royalty over what it would cost him we could ship the lots up their, send their Whanau (NZ Maori word for family) up for a two week holiday each year, and still have enough left over to pay for the under funding of our health system.

But it seems that the lefties here believe they don't need the break, and they might get upset if they miss the Booze, Coffee Cigarettes and Drugs they get in jail here.

Tough Brown Smelly Stuff!

I hope when the Sherriff is gone someone with equally sized balls and as stiff a backbone takes over.

[LadyinBlue]

They say...if you don't like the heat, stay out of the kitchen.

In Maricopa County it's simple, if you don't like the accomodations then don't break the law.

Keep up the good work Sheriff Joe!