Posted on 12/13/2008 6:12:48 AM PST by SandRat
Sheriff Joe to make those in the county Jail/Tent City Jail pay $1.25 per-day for a county savings of more than $900,00.
Now who says crime doesn't pay.
(Excerpt) Read more at azstarnet.com ...
Right on. Makes sense to me. But... the A.C.L.U will be on this in 1, 2, 3....
How exactly does that work?
Do prisoners make a daily salary in jail?
Brings a whole new meaning to the bullies stealing lunch money.
I LOVE sheriff Joe! We brought him to Chicago this past August and he got RAVE Reviews!
God Bless Sheriff Joe!!
Our British Friends love him too! (well, some of them do anyway)
Inside America's toughest jail (Brit paper says Sheriff Joe Arpaio's ideas would be great for U.K.)
(FR thread from April 2007)
I think Sheriff Joe has just jumped over the shark.
Let um eat cake......errr pie.
Not “crime”, but “being arrested” doesn’t pay. That is, a lot of the people in the tent cities have not been convicted of anything, they are just being held pending trial.
Granted, the public has no problem with abusing the heck out of convicts. The hatred is tangible. Past studies have suggested that, at least at first glance, the majority of the public say they would support flogging, public humiliation, branding, tattooing, chip implants, and forced hard labor. Less than a majority, but still a large number, support a death penalty for a handful of lesser crimes than murder.
This puts the onus on actual conviction. It should be the dividing line between treatment for those who, if not innocent, are not guilty, and those who are guilty and set for punishment.
Arpaio has had some hits and misses here. For example, charging for medical care was instituted in response to multi-million dollar judgments against the County for not providing essential medical care, even at low cost. In particular, an inmate with severe Crohn’s disease was denied a 25 cent daily pill, that resulted in his needing four very major surgeries at the cost of hundreds of thousands of dollars to the County. Penny wise and dollar foolish.
More commonly, unless inmates had life threatening, emergent conditions, the only medical care available to them was aspirin. Far more expensive in the long run than at least providing minimal care. A few antibiotics are a lot cheaper than treating a life threatening infection.
As far as food goes, the low quality fare Arpaio provides, the public said is appropriate for inmates. However, this leads to endemic and chronic mass food poisoning in the tent cities. If inmates are compelled to pay for their food, they should at least have the option to purchase more expensive, nutritious and hygienic food, at least until they have been convicted.
Remember that a lot of them are not, and never will be, convicted of a crime, so at least officially do not yet merit punishment. And denial of palatable and nutritious food is most certainly punishment.
And if prisoners have no money and no one willing to give them money how will that work? Let some guy who got caught with a half ounce of pot starve to death? Sheriff Joe is a tough guy. It’s important to him to treat anybody convicted of a crime like garbage. He’s going overboard on this one.
......And if prisoners have no money and no one willing to give them money how will that work......
While in jail they should find something to trade
A) Starve the prisoner?
B) Send him to debtor's prison for non-payment?
C) Torture, perhaps?
I’m all for punishment of crime, especially violent crime, but Joe the sheriff likes to push his authority to the limits that he can get away with.
LOL!! I can hear sheriff Joe now: "God didn't give you lips to just whistle Dixie, son!"
The article tells you the answer to that question.
Let some guy who got caught with a half ounce of pot starve to death?
We are not in any danger of that kind of policy and you know it. Setting up imaginary issues to fight against is just another way of distracting from the real problems facing real jails. This county is trying something a little different and you seem to want them to toe the line. They should be like most others and offer free cable TV, gymns, law libraries, etc, right?
Prisoners rights are not in danger of being abrogated in this country. Its victims rights that are more often ignored.
Read the article. Straw man argument.
Crohn’s is not funny, and denying a patien treatment for it should have landed Arpaio in jail.
Human nature being what it is, many of them will make damn sure they have nothing "on the books". So now they have a tab. How much does it cost to maintain the bookkeeping on all this? I like Joe but think he's off on this one.
To yefragetuwrabrumuy - Would like to see sources of your charges. From the article, I get the impression (i.e. "inmates") that this applies to those already convicted.
Then you are mistaken... he will prevail and prosper... he always has.
LLS
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