Excellent!!!

Holy cow!! Have I been living under a rock? This blows my mind...in a good way. Now that's my kind of guy. I would bet that the recidivism in his county is lower than in the rest of the state, or of the nation, for that matter.

Thanks for posting this and enlightening me.

Love it !! Way to go Joe !!

Helen

SHERIFF JOE FOR PRESIDENT!!!

It takes more than humiliation to reform some people but I guess if it makes Sherrif Joe feel okay....

You really can't lump all offenders into one catagory. When my hubby got a DUI he was treated very badly in jail including handcuffed behind his back for over twelve hours and being shoved face first into a concrete wall resulting in an injury that should have required stitches. Before all the MADD people jump on me let me say his driving was an error in judgement. That does not give the sherrif and jailers to treat him badly.

A month after he got out of jail one of his jailers was on the news for soliciting sex from a male juvenile. Now who is the low life?

Then the archbishop of our community got a DUI; he received a private carpeted cell, internet access and a special diet.

An undercover cop in a nearby community was shot in a confrontation and his autopsy confirmed that he was nearly twice the legal limit WHILE ON DUTY. He received a funeral worthy of a hero.

So while you may want to paint everyone with one "pink" paintbrush I warn you to be a little more open minded. Sherrif Joe will, when it happens to one of his own I dare say.

BTW, before everyone attacks me because my hubby had a DUI let me go on record as saying he only had a few parking tickets in the past. That's all. He raised a family, operated a successful business and paid his taxes and also learned his lesson but not because of tactics like the ones mentioned.

I always thought prisons make criminals worse than before they went in. Caring for the animals gets them caring for something other than themselves and gives them something constructive to so and probably makes them feel better. I am sure it has helped changed some. Then when they are released they can't get a job because of record, understandable but how does that rehabilitate them.

Nessie, I have heard of that kind of treatment. I think its despicable how your husband was treated. We all make mistakes from time to time but that does not make it ok for one person/people to treat another badly and without respect.(I guess unless deserved for some really bad person) I have always considered the saying about those living in glass houses should cast no stones. People in law enforcement also should heed that saying.

I have always wondered why prisoners weren't working other than body building. Why would they be paid anything for work, even 20 cents? We're feeding and housing them, and they have committed a crime against our society.

I like Joe!

Thanks, Izzie.

Maybe if my nephew was treated harsher then maybe he wouldn't be going to prison for his 4Th yes I said 4th DUI. I say you rock JOE!

I volunteered at a prison for a long time. I think most of the correctional institutions in this country are full of corruption, and we aren't reforming anybody, we often make them worse. I don't think we should be humiliating and making slaves out of HUMAN BEINGS just because they have broken a law. I think that if offenders WANT to volunteer to do public services (like the animal shelter) to get out of their cells or gain experience, that's wonderful, but otherwise, they are still human beings and should be treated like one. Humiliation will not make for better citizens once they re-enter the world. They need to be gaining education and skills to use in the real world, the lack of which probably caused them to have a life of crime in the first place.

Please don't misconstrue what I was saying in my quote, "This blows my mind...in a good way."

I think all prisoners should work and make a contribution to society no matter where they "live". Teaching them to care for and train animals, work construction and tend the land is not degrading. Rather, it's a way to ensure that they learn a trade or skill, which will benefit them when they return to society. Taking away porn mags and certain TV channels? I can't see why they would need anything other than basic cable.
Living in a barbed-wire enclosed tent in the hot sun? Thousands of hard-working itinerant farmers do that every single day. People work in terrible conditions in places like sweatshops in order to support their families. I can't see where this is 'inhumane', other than the fact prisoners have come to consider "3 hots and a cot" an entitlement. The government pays for their housing, food, entertainment, legal defense, and many other things. Most people who are in prison are guilty of having committed some terrible crimes against society.
Hopefully, a harsh hand and some "tough love" will help those prisoners decide that they want to rehabilitate themselves. Prison should not look or operate like a country club. Don't mistreat them , but don't pander to them, either.

Here is another......Yeah Joe!! I get so sick of prisons providing muscle building and weight training equipment for convicts. It is just making bad guys stronger. If it is because of pent up energy, find a physical JOB for them. If it is on my dime, bologna sandwiches are just fine. Carbs & protein. I would like to see this country come down even harder on people who choose to break the law or belong to gangs, and I'm all for the three-strikes rule. If some of these people spent as much time and talent being a productive and law abiding citizen, that they do figuring out their next crime or con, what a much better this world would be. JMO Dottie

I understand what you are saying mrsmarv. I confess I scrolled through the OP because I've seen a lot of Sheriff Joe e-mails. It just seems that he gets off on mis-treating prisoners.

I totally applaud giving prisoners the chance to work with animals and other things they can do to help the community. I understand that soldiers and farmers have to deal with the heat...but not the intentional cruelty.

Anyone remember Cool Hand Luke????

I'm shakin' it Boss, right over here, Boss!

Chain gangs??? Holy cow, I thought (hoped, believed) they were only a bad memory I had of driving through Georgia on the way to Florida from Illinois when I was a child. It was just like the movies: Chained men in stripes sweating in the sun while pot-bellied guards sat on horseback with rifles, smoking to ward off the bugs.

Prisoners working, and working with animals, is a winner. Chain gangs are not. I wouldn't reject prisoners in ugly prison garb picking up trash along the road, etc. where the public can see 'em. Good for shaming and as a deterent as much as for the utility of the work.

Sheriff Joe runs the county jail system. These are short term stays for most.

He is nothing to do with prisons.

Two separate entities.

I am in agreement with Neesie and Jenn.

I also believe that our prisons would be "empty" if not for the drug offenders, the parole violators and if we screened every single person arrested for criminal behavior for mental health issues and offered appropriate treatment. Not only would it make for a safer society but it would cost less too.

Unfortunately the penal system is big business. Our so called crime fighters couldn't draw those nice paychecks and sap our general funds if they actually did something about the problem.

I've seen this before and all I have to say is "right on Joe".

Wish Calif had a sheriff Joe.This state like many others pays millions to run the prison system,where they have better cable tv than i do,get their 3 squares a day,have a roof over their heads,libraries full of books about the laws so they can learn more about how to beat the system,and better body building system than 24 hour fitness.

I know several people who have been in and out of jail more times,than i've been on vacation ,and they all tell me,"Jail isn't so bad".My next door neighbor has 2 sons that for them jail was a revolving door,during the 90's early 2000's.Their parents buried their head in the sand and said,not my boys they wouldn't do such and such.Yeah right,that's why your house was raided by the police,and lots of evidence taken.

So i say good for Joe,you go man!!
JMO
Kathi

Oh man. Anyone who says jail is not bad....should be around the inmates at holiday time.
Many of them are real people who took a wrong turn.
A lot of them were caught selling drugs for someone smarter than they are. Most have no job skills. Hubby comes across many who cannot read an inch on a ruler.
They are ready to be released after serving a long stretch in jail so he teaches them job skills. They get paid as an incentive to work - just as anyone would. They can go to commissary and purchase things like soap or candy. The way he talks more candy is purchased than soap!
Cigarettes were banned a few years ago (hooray!).
Can you imagine if they could not get outside once in a while (where the weights are). Remember the guards need to be safe too.
Kathy (whose hubby has been teaching inmates for 23 years)

I like Joe and applaud his creativity. However he does have a, shall we say, few marks on his record that are questionable to many too. I won't go into it but people can do some research and decide if they want to worship him or hate him. I choose to respect the good things he's done but not go overboard in unwarranted praise. He's definitely a "different person" both is good ways and in bad but all in all, he's done a lot of good there. That said, there's a lot of things people don't understand. Again, there's a big difference between jail and prison. People need to educate themselves on the differences before making a lot of the comments out of misinformation. Joe is successful mostly because he's in Maricopa Co, AZ. I seriously doubt he'd be successful in Wisconsin, New York or Washington, DC. I liked the way of the tent cities but they wouldn't work in St. Louis. Joe's point on them is, you're in the middle of the desert - you want to run? RUN! How far do you think you'll get? You think you could leave them essentially unguarded in the suburbs of Lincoln, NE?

Now the "chain gangs". There's a lot of misconception on that too. Joe affectionately calls them "chain gangs" but don't kid yourself that it's the 1950s gangs where they're building private projects for the warden, being beaten with whips and pipes and the like. They're simply in CHAINS, (hence the term chain gangs!) out cleaning graffiti, picking up garbage in the ditches and the like. What's wrong with that? If they weren't secured people would scream that their children, pets and wine coolers wouldn't be safe.

Also, for good or bad and I'm not entering or encouraging the debate, but Arizona has laws conducive to this type of system. Other states DO require a full library, weights, TV with full cable lineup and the like so they can't take it away. Plus often people only look at the cost savings of the green balogna, and overlook the millions spent defending the lawsuits against Joe and the system which they feel they want to spend but many if not most other places won't spend that money. So when you look at the big picture, I truly doubt Joe could be successful outside of Arizona or at lest in more moderate climates of varying types.

I always question people when they throw out "they're HUMAN BEINGS!". Yes. So am I and so are you. What's your point? They DESERVE full cable because they're humans? I don't have cable. When will you give me my cable, additional education, steak & lobster meals, etc? The idea of punishing is to deprive certain things as an incentive to not do that again. But in today's world it's felt that when little Jimmy steals a candy bar, he should be rewarded with more candy since he probably was deprived at home. I also don't understand the chant of "humiliation". People who do that simply don't know what humiliation is. By definition, I cannot "humiliate" you. Only you can feel humiliated. I can only assume that those people feel tha prisoners shouldn't feel shame, remorse or anything for the crimes they committed.

And for anyone who thinks a beat cop makes big bucks, ROFL. Why don't you go become a cop then?

All this notwithstanding, there are some bad cops. And they should be prosecuted and jailed/imprisoned too in my opinion. But it's certainly irrational to condemn a whole system because one person was mistreated one time. That's not even worth commenting on further.

As I said though, the system could certainly use a good healthy infusion of creativity to cut costs and increase effectiveness.

I don't "worship" Joe, but isn't it just common sense that if you are being punished for a crime, your rights should curtailed a bit? I think all prisoners should have to work to earn their keep. I think they should have to give up air-conditioning, television, cigarettes, candy, pop, etc. I'm not about humiliating offenders, but prison is supposed to be a punishment, after all.

"I always question people when they throw out "they're HUMAN BEINGS!". Yes. So am I and so are you. What's your point? They DESERVE full cable because they're humans? I don't have cable. When will you give me my cable, additional education, steak & lobster meals, etc?"

Where did anyone say they deserve cable tv and steak and lobster? I don't even have cable tv. Nobody DESERVES cable tv, and I don't think inmates should get to have it either. I've never heard one person say prisons should have candy, pools, fancy dinners, gyms, or cable. Not being forced into slave labor or humiliated has absolutely nothing to do with anyone thinking prisoners should enjoy the finer things in life.

"I also don't understand the chant of "humiliation". People who do that simply don't know what humiliation is. By definition, I cannot "humiliate" you. Only you can feel humiliated."

You are kidding, right? Semantics. I am not going to blame any victim of humiliation because THEY are the ones feeling it, instead of the person inflicting the words or actions meant to cause the humiliation.

"People who do that simply don't know what humiliation is"

My opinion was that we should not humiliate or make slaves out of people who have broken the law and are in prison serving their time. You certainly don't have to agree with me, but you state your opinions as fact, as if those who don't agree with you have no idea what they are talking about. Your opinions are no more correct or wrong than mine, or anybody else's who posts here, because they are not facts, but simply opinions.

Sheriff Joe does not mistreat the prisoners nor is there any "intentional cruelty".

He just doesn't buy into the theory that they should be treated like prima donnas either.

They are prisoners who have committed crimes and they are treated as such. If they can work on the roads, pick up garbage, serve the community, why shouldn't they? Why shouldn't they work for their room and board just like the rest of us?

I actually do think you are right Magic. At least he keeps tabs on his jail.

Unfortunately I know enough people on both sides of the law who have shared some horrific stories with me. I'm talking about LEOs and private jail guards bragging outright about the blanket parties, elevator rides and turning a blind eye to sexual violence that goes on under their nose.

I'm talking about the middle aged woman who works as a clerk at the local county jail who overheard me talking in a local dinerto someone who had just been released about the abuse in our system. We thought she was going to chastise us, Instead she had horror stories of her own of the beaten,swollen faces she saw walk through on a regular basis who "had fallen down" she couldn't do anything about. Woman in her 50's who needed to keep her job to survive.

Yep. i would rather be in Joe's jail with tough rules than most jails with no rules at all.

In our small area the county sheriff brings some of the inmates out to clean the road side. They all wear bright orange and there are several officers escorting them. I see nothing wrong with this. I don't think humiliation comes into play. What about the people they robbed, or the child molestation or rapes.
My cousins son made a big mistake when he was 18, drinking and driving. He ran a stop sign hitting a car ( or should i say running right up over the car. He was in a big truck with huge tires) killing three young people in car two of which were young parents of a 9 month old baby girl. The baby survived with lots of surgeries and she now is crippled. He got 30 years for this crime but while in prison he took every class he could take, took college courses and now has the highest degrees he can get. While in prison he went around to schools, churches and every other place that would have him and gave talks about what he had done.One sheriff would escort him to all these meetings and he had to have cuffs and shackles. He showed the pictures of the actual wreck, explained to the audience how stupid he had been. The baby's grandmother has raised her and they have both forgiven him and go to most all his speeches.He always introduces both of them so everyone can see what damage the drinking and driving did. The baby ( now a teenager ) tells what she feels about what he did to her and her parents but also tells how she has learned to forgive him and that they have actually become quite close. This is one time when prison actually did make a difference, before this he was a spoiled, obnoxious, teenager. He actually believed because his parents were well to do, well known people he wouldn't get any time from this. Going into prison he still thought everyone was wrong. He just got released this past year after serving fifteen years and he still goes to schools to tell the kids what drinking can do. He has become a changed,productive young man. I don't say everything Joe is doing is right, but at least he's on the right track.

I just read a profile of this wingnut in the July 20 issue of the New Yorker. He's all about...him! He management style is press releases about him. (And I thought Jesse Jackson was a media hog! LOL) He reminds me of Huey Long.

"...lawsuits brought against (Joe) Arpaio's office have cost Maricopa County taxpayers forty-three million dollars, according to some estimates. But the Sheriff has never acknowledged any wrongdooing...many of the officers have been promoted."

"Other jails get sued, of course. The Phoenix (newspaper) found that, between 2004 and 2008, the county jails of New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, 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."

Do read this article before you laud this guy, whose taactics are supported by Ku Kluxers and neo-Nazis. Citizens are afraid of him. Critics have been intimidated by his officers. He plays to Arizona residents who believe all ills are traceable to 'illegals'.